Growing up everyone always tells you that you can be whatever you want to be. Most kids choose prestige jobs like Fire Fighter, President of the United States, Teacher, or Doctor; like most young girls I was going to be a veterinarian. I didn’t have the grades nor could I pass a simple math class, my dreams were crushed. From then on my goal was to just get through school and I would deal with choosing my career later. Senior year came around and I had chosen a vocational class at SELF school in Valparaiso, at first I thought it would be a nice way to get out of the high school for a few hours every day, I didn’t know it would change my life. For the first time I saw people with these disabilities who were just trying to make it day by day in school, although my learning disability was not as severe I felt the same pain and frustration they did. I was hooked.
Over the last 100 years we have learned so much about mental disabilities but still so many people seem to be unaware of how common it really is. According to National Alliance on Mental Illness “One in four – approximately 61.5 million Americans – experience mental illness in a …show more content…
Originally called “Mongolism” the disorders name was not changed to Down syndrome until the early 1970s. In the beginning when a women gave birth to a child with Down syndrome she was often convinced by doctors to send her child off to an institution where they were told their child who be taken care of, often this was not the case. Children as young as a few days old were isolated and abused every day, sometimes even tide down to their cribs. In 1960 Marty and Kathy McGee after having a daughter themselves with Down syndrome founded The National Association for Down Syndrome (NADS). They educated parents, offered support and changed the world by showing everyone that those with Down syndrome are people and can live full lives in the
Over the last 100 years we have learned so much about mental disabilities but still so many people seem to be unaware of how common it really is. According to National Alliance on Mental Illness “One in four – approximately 61.5 million Americans – experience mental illness in a …show more content…
Originally called “Mongolism” the disorders name was not changed to Down syndrome until the early 1970s. In the beginning when a women gave birth to a child with Down syndrome she was often convinced by doctors to send her child off to an institution where they were told their child who be taken care of, often this was not the case. Children as young as a few days old were isolated and abused every day, sometimes even tide down to their cribs. In 1960 Marty and Kathy McGee after having a daughter themselves with Down syndrome founded The National Association for Down Syndrome (NADS). They educated parents, offered support and changed the world by showing everyone that those with Down syndrome are people and can live full lives in the