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by nate_meurer
2709 days ago
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> it is not a fact that people with Down's Syndrome are happier than other groups. This is a odd thing to assert so forcefully. Have you seen any studies supporting this? FWIW, [1] is a survey indicating that the Down's syndrome population (in America anyway) might be endowed with fantastically high levels of happiness, satisfaction, and self esteem. Here's a quote: Nearly 99% of people with Down syndrome indicated that they were happy with their lives; 97% liked who they are; and 96% liked how they look. Nearly 99% people with Down syndrome expressed love for their families, and 97% liked their brothers and sisters. While 86% of people with Down syndrome felt they could make friends easily, those with difficulties mostly had isolating living situations. A small percentage expressed sadness about their life. Call me crazy, but I suspect these numbers are far higher than what you'd get from a non-Downs population. It certainly seems like a reasonable and innocent bit of cheer for a doctor to offer to a new dad. 1 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3740159/ |
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> Our results are also limited by the lack of diversity of our respondents, who did not include many black/African Americans, Asian, American Indian, or Alaska Native Americans
> The results from the parent/guardian respondents (published separately) also showed that their median gross household income of $100,000 was significantly higher than the national median gross household income of $49,777
So, they surveyed people from affluent, white, American families - I suspect the numbers from this group would be rather high regardless of DS.
> It certainly seems like a reasonable and innocent bit of cheer for a doctor to offer to a new dad
I get where you're coming from with this, I do - the doctor wanted to offer some comfort to the father; but positive stereotypes are not helpful, and a doctor should know better. IMO, the doctor should have educated, rather than patronised (however well-meant) - for example, he could have explained how incredibly better outcomes are for those with DS nowadays.
I think a comparison of this type of view to the 'casual racism' of the 70's is valid, where people think it's OK to think and say these kind of things, not necessarily out of malice, but simply out of ignorance.