Down Syndrome: A Teenager's Perspective...

i have a facebook friend, liz, whose teenage daughter, heidi, has Down syndrome.  they live in the united kingdom.  this is what heidi wrote (independently) in response to a request from a friend who wanted to hear firsthand about what life is like for someone who has Down's syndrome:


"Hi i,am Heidi i,am 15 and i have downs syndrome. I go to tile hill wood school and has blue eyes and i,am very cute and...... has a wonderful and intelligent Personality and has a very kind and caring family .  I,am in year 9 i have lots of friends. I have been in the newspaper and on the radio because my dad wrote a book about me.


And i,am very happy to have such a wonderful sister as Suzie . I,am currentley choosing my options and i have chosen R.......E ,French, I have chosen french because my brother Tim has done it and can help me and he is very good at the french pronouncation. And also i have chosen History because it is very intresting. And i like history. Next school year when i start my gcses every thursday 9 till 3 i might be going to my brothers college to do a hair and beauty course.      Heidi"

liz and heidi

you sometimes hear that someone "suffers" from Ds.....as liz said in her post, "i don't think heidi SUFFERS from Ds, do you????"   it sounds to me like heidi has a lovely life that she lives to the fullest....and parents and siblings who love and support her!   heidi even has her own website:  http://www.heidicrowter.com/ ! 

liz is always such a tremendous support and encouragement to those of us who are relatively new to this unexpected journey of Ds.   our online Ds community has parents of kids with Ds of all ages, and we are so blessed to benefit from the experiences that they so freely share with us!   but to actually hear how a young lady with Ds describes her life is amazing and gives me much hope for wyatt's future.....