Lauren Potter's Story: A Life With Down Syndrome
Lauren Potter’s Story; a Life with Down Syndrome “I want to encourage, kids to speak up to tell their stories. That is the only way that people will know what we have to go through. Believe in yourself. Someone once told me being different isn’t bad - different is just different.” said Lauren Potter (Rooted in Rights). Down syndrome is a difficult disability for most people to understand.
Down syndrome is a common and devastating disability. Roughly 400,000 people suffer from it. Around 6,000 babies a year are born with it, which equals out to about one in every eight hundred people (Levine 23). Down syndrome is caused by a deformity in their chromosomes, in other words, they have forty-seven instead of forty-six chromosomes (14). There are three different types of this disability, some more severe than others. The three types are trisomy twenty-one, translocation, and mosaicism. Trisomy twenty-one is caused by an error in the cell division. Translocation occurs when part of the cell breaks off. Mosaicism, the least common form, is where they contain an extra chromosome (NDSS). There are many different symptoms for Down syndrome. Down syndrome affects the brain and body (Levine 6). People with Down syndrome tend to share many of the same characteristics. For example, they have small heads, slanted eyes, their tongues stick out sometimes, they have wide and small …show more content…
People with Down syndrome tend to have weak muscles and eyesight (Levine 9). They also generally have issues with their heart, stomach, immune system, and joints ( Levine 22). They are also put at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's. In fact, half of all people with Down syndrome develop it (NDSS). In 1983 the life expectancy was twenty-five, but nowadays the life expectancy is sixty (NDSS). There are two ways to be diagnosed with Down syndrome. They may be diagnosed during pregnancy through a screening test or after birth
Down syndrome is a common and devastating disability. Roughly 400,000 people suffer from it. Around 6,000 babies a year are born with it, which equals out to about one in every eight hundred people (Levine 23). Down syndrome is caused by a deformity in their chromosomes, in other words, they have forty-seven instead of forty-six chromosomes (14). There are three different types of this disability, some more severe than others. The three types are trisomy twenty-one, translocation, and mosaicism. Trisomy twenty-one is caused by an error in the cell division. Translocation occurs when part of the cell breaks off. Mosaicism, the least common form, is where they contain an extra chromosome (NDSS). There are many different symptoms for Down syndrome. Down syndrome affects the brain and body (Levine 6). People with Down syndrome tend to share many of the same characteristics. For example, they have small heads, slanted eyes, their tongues stick out sometimes, they have wide and small …show more content…
People with Down syndrome tend to have weak muscles and eyesight (Levine 9). They also generally have issues with their heart, stomach, immune system, and joints ( Levine 22). They are also put at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's. In fact, half of all people with Down syndrome develop it (NDSS). In 1983 the life expectancy was twenty-five, but nowadays the life expectancy is sixty (NDSS). There are two ways to be diagnosed with Down syndrome. They may be diagnosed during pregnancy through a screening test or after birth