The honorable all of judges, and all of my beloved

friends, Good Morning all. My name is Regina Pingkan

from High Intermediate Four and my class teacher is
Mr Benny. Today, Tuesday december thirtyth two
thousand and fourteen, I would like to present my
essay in the form of presentation. The title of my essay
is Down syndrome are Okay. Before it, here is an
amazing video which is made by International Down
Syndrome Coalition in order to celebrate World Down
Syndrome Day two thousand and thirteen. Enjoy it.
• Down syndrome was first recognized in eighteen eleven by
John Langdon Down. He described the down syndrome
condition and it was later given his name. But, the cause of
the condition was unknown until in nineteen fifty nine
when Proffesor Jerome Lejeune proved that Down
syndrome was a chromosomal irregularity.
• We are born with fourty six chromosomes, half are contributed by the
mother and half are contributed by father, to equal twenty three
pairs. People with down syndrome have fourty seven chromosomes
instead of the usual fourty six chromosomes. It is because of the
presence of an extra, or third, copy of chromosome twenty one just
like in this picture. This is why the scientific term for Down syndrome
is ‘Trisomy twenty one’.

• Then, Down syndrome can be identified during pregnancy by prenatal

screening and its showed by this picture, then followed by the
diagnostic testing. Besides, it can also be identified after the babies
born by direct observation and genetic testing.
• The symptoms of down syndrome can vary a great deal. Both of this
pictures tell us the most common symptoms of down syndrome are
flattened face, small mouth, upward slant of the eyes, depressed
nasal bridge with smaller nose, abnormally-shaped ears, the
decreased muscle tone and loose joints, growth failure, and the
mental retardation. There are many loops on finger tips and the space
between their first and second toes are widely separated. Some
children with down syndrome also have visual, hearing, heart, and
gastrointestinal problems.
• Although all children are unique in their patterns of development,
children born with down syndrome learn differently. They have more
variations in their intellectual, language, and movement
development. They have their own ways to learn and improve their
talents.
• The society consider down syndrome sufferers are different. And
yeah, just like what Nicholas Popowich, the face of “see the ability”
campaign said in this picture, people dont have to believe that down
syndrome sufferers are not different because they are actually
different. But, in the good way. And they are proud they have down
syndrome.
• The reasons why is it hard for society to treat down syndrome
sufferers equally are first, the lack of socializations, second, the
difficulties of accepting differences, and the third is the fear of being
attacked.
• Children are the greatest gifts given by god to parents. In creating a
child, god has his own secrets. There are children who are born
normal and there also children who are born special. One of these
special children is a child who suffers from down syndrome.
• So far, in indonesia, there is a lack of knowledges about the causes of
down syndrome and how to interact with them. As a result, there are
many people especially parents who dont know the right ways to
treat the sufferers so that some of them decide to treat them rudely
and inappropriately.
• those habits can lead to so many cases. The first picture shows that
approximately ninety percent of unborn babies with a down syndrome
diagnosis are aborted. This case proves even for a family who has a member
with down syndrome is regarded as a disgrace. They assume that their child is
not deserve a life.
• The second pictures shows a twenty two year old man case. His name is
gilberto and he was beaten by police for a ‘bulge in his pants’ which was
actually his colostomy bag. It is because the police didnt know about the basic
information of down syndrome and they consider the down syndrome
sufferers like gilberto shouldn’t be treat just like the other normal people.
• And the third picture shows us about the case of parents who cuff their down
syndrome children in isolated area because of shame and they also think that
their children are not useful for people around them.
• Those previous cases which has mentioned before can be prevented if the
society is willing to find information and attend the socialization about down
syndrome.
• Take, POTADS (Persatuan Orang Tua Anak Down Syndrome or The Association of Parents of
Children with down syndrome) an organization located in Tangerang which has hosted some
socializations that support the dissemination of information about down syndrome. Through the
socializations, they encourage people to be more caring and respect the down syndrome sufferers.
They also help the return of the confidence of sufferer’s parents so they can educate their children
to be more independent.
• Some examples of counseling in indonesia are ‘kiat menghadapi stress memiliki anak down
syndrome or tips to face the stress of having children with down syndrome’ by potads bandung
with one hundred fifty audiences and ‘pemberdayaan keluarga dalam pertumbuhan anak
berkebutuhan khusus or the family impowerment for the growth of children with special needs’ in
two thousand and nine in diponegoro university, semarang.
• Typically, in the socializations, they informed that down syndrome is not a disease and the age of
woman proved a major effect on the appearance of down syndrome in babies born. The risk will
increase after the mother reaches the age of thirty or under eighteen. If those informations are
successfully coveyed to society, it can reduce the risk of children affected by down syndrome in
indonesia.
• POTADS also has established the Pusat Informasi Kegiatan or Central of Informations and
Activities, website, e-mail, and social media such as facebook and twitter which is useful a source
of information and communication about down syndrome. The sufferer’s parents can be greatly
helped if they need a proper solution to their children’s problems. They will be more careful in
taking care their children so they will not them inappropriately anymore.
• Besides counseling from organizations, socializations of down syndrome can also be informed through
books. Many books about down syndrome were created as part of the academic and scientific needs.
Because these books are still a bit scarce in society, however there was a book “ayo bersahabat dengan
down syndrome or lets make friends with down syndrome’ by effi krisna dewi in order to socialize in
wider community with a more down to earth, communicative and easy to understand language.

• Nowadays, the society is tend to treat down syndrome sufferers differently because they found it is
difficult to accept the differences. They think that down syndrome sufferers can not live independently
and only depend on other people around them. They prefer to stay away from the sufferers because
they dont want to be bothered by their presences.
• Through the book ayo bersahabat dengan down syndrome, the author, effie recounts her personal
experiences as a mother of a child with down syndrome and she already proved those society opinions
about down syndrome sufferers was wrong because the fact is they can live independently if they are
given the oppurtunity as well as appropriate training portion of their abilities in a variety of fields such
as education, arts and culture, and others.
• Besides being able to do all activities by themselves, people with
down syndrome are also able to have incomes from their jobs,
without depending on their family forever. They can live like the other
members of society including contributing to the family and people
around them. This is Lauren Potter, an actress who has acted in a
popular tv serials, Glee and there is also Tim harris which has his own
restaurant.
• Most of people just look the disabilities of down syndrome sufferers
without notice their abilities. However, just like this Paul Sawka, the
awareness leader of canadian down syndrome society statement
which is said that having down syndrome has not stopped them from
having success and growth.in fact, there many people with down
syndrome who have talents and got rewards.
• There a few examples of down syndrome sufferers who inspire other
people by their achievements.
• Therefore, there is no excuse for society to not accept people with
down syndrome because of their differences, because those amazing
sufferers can prove that they deserve to be the normal society even
though they have differences.
• Then, the other reason why society is hard to treat down syndrome sufferers equally is
because they are afraid of being attacked by them. In many cases, people around the
down syndrome sufferers often think that the sufferer will immediately get angry and
attack them for no apparent reason. People will instantly stay away from the down
syndrome sufferers because they are afraid of being the target of the sufferer’s anger.
• Those opinions are not entirely wrong because sometimes we often see a child with
down syndrome who behaved rudely and often called a trouble maker in the
neighborhood. There are two reasons for it. First, It can be caused by the child has
been treated rudely by the parents so that she or he didnt know how to behave well or
they are often teased by their friends and the people around them.
• Because of that, many people prefer not to interact with the down syndrome sufferers
at all.
• In order to overcome it, we should interact properly with down
syndrome sufferers so that they dont feel annoyed and angry with us.
Just like what those pictures have show that our words, attitudes and
actions to the sufferer are really impact for theirlives more than their
disabilities.
• We also shouldnt judge and tease the down syndrome sufferers
because just like what Morgan freeman said that attacking people
with disabilities is the lowest display of power i can think of. Besides,
we can also miss out on their abilities, beauty and uniqueness.
• And if we see the down syndrome sufferer who is raging, we shouldnt
confront him or her with shouting at them because it will only make
them angrier and rampage. So that, we have to confront them
patiently and carefully.
• Second, we have to place the sufferer in the safe room and keep them
from some objects which could endanger the sufferers safety.
• In conclusion, all this time, society thinks that down syndrome sufferers
live in the different world with us.they prefer to treat people with down
syndrome differently because of several influencial factors.

• Those bad habits should be changed from now on. The simplest changes
can be started by greeting the down syndrome sufferers around us. This
picture shows the potads bandung events in order to celebrate world
down syndrome day on march 21st. We have to appreciate it or even join
this kind of events to celebrate it together with them. By doing so, we will
gradually accept the down syndrome sufferers to be a part of our world.