#DownRightDiscrimination court case 23rd Sept 2021

On September the 23rd Maximus aged 4 and his mum Cristina had taken the long journey to London so they could be there to support Heidi, Maire & Aiden at the Royal courts of Justice as they heard the verdict about whether or not children with Down's syndrome are equally valued.

At present the law states that Just because (my son) Max has Down's syndrome he could be Terminated up until birth, for children without Down's syndrome the law protects their lives at 24 weeks. We would like to see this outdated and discriminatory law changed so our children have the same rights as any other, even before they are born.

The judgement was that this law is not discriminatory, our community begs to differ, when women are being repeatedly offered Terminations up until birth, even after they have said NO, this IS discrimination. No woman should have to endure that, no child should face such discrimination even before they have entered the world.

This early discrimination leads to a wider prejudice in society, people think it is ok to ask a mother 'did you know' implying they should have terminated. They approach parents to tell them, 'I would have got an abortion' whilst their child is sat listening. They look in disgust as they think our children are a burden on society, on their parents, on their siblings. They do not see what people with Down's syndrome can bring to society, the studies that prove outdated views wrong. Lets face it, if society is told that people with Down's syndrome shouldn't even be brought into the world, that their condition is so bad that they can be killed up until BIRTH, why on earth would they believe any different? How can we change these negative views if discrimination starts even before birth?

We have created a short video of our experience in London: https://youtu.be/_0-o0X9KBZI

You can read more here:

Woman with Down's syndrome, 26, loses High Court battle against the Government over abortion law (dailymail.co.uk)

Press Release - Woman with Down’s syndrome’s landmark case against UK Govt over discriminatory abortion law plans to go onto Court of Appeal - Don't Screen Us Out (dontscreenusout.org)

If you would like to pledge your support to Heidi's appeal you can do so here: Downright discrimination: stop the govt singling out disabled babies (crowdjustice.com)

Launching World Down syndrome day 21, Welcome to the world packs for babies born with Down syndrome.

When Max was born we had a wonderful Midwife who sat by my bed and let me talk. My family supported me, my husband took Max's diagnosis of Down's syndrome in his stride.

I did not!

I felt alone and afraid, there had been no signposting to local support and I didn't dare google.

No new mum should feel this way when there is a supportive community waiting to welcome them!

These suitcases are filled with love and welcome new parents on their new journey with a child who has Down syndrome. Find out more on #WDSD21

Emmerdale

The community has been hurt and dismayed to hear Emmerdale are running a story where a child is aborted on the Grounds of having Down's syndrome.

We feel that this is a step back and wonder why Down's syndrome? They could have chosen a life limiting condition, or could the couple have decided the time was not right to have any pregnancy!

Why Down's syndrome? We think sensationalism and feel this is a backwards step with a storyline that uses a young character who has Down's syndrome to justify itself, when in reality this makes the storyline much worse. People who have Down's syndrome will see this as confirmation that society deems them unworthy of life, how many will see this and find out their minority groups is singled out, or screened out, with an assumption that the mother will abort?

We don't think Emmerdale should run such a negative story on Down's syndrome, we believe people who have Down's syndrome, Down's syndrome charities and more parents should have been involved in the discussion so that Emmerdale can see the truth behind why so many people actually abort. The fear of the unknown, the expectation that is what they should do and the fearmongering questions that you couldn't possibly answer if you have never had any balanced information or lived experience. Questions that we know are proposed by Ark like 'Do you think you could cope?' How could anybody possibly know if they have not been given balanced information??