Unringing the Bell

Amen, Sister; 31 for 21

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This is worth a read.

There's a Little Boy

His name is Kirill and he lives in an orphanage in Russia.

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He lives in an orphanage in Russia though he has two loving parents who desperately want to take him home.

The judge in Russia, however, has denied his adoption into his Mommy and Daddy's family because Kirill has Down syndrome. The judge said that though this family is a great and qualified family, they may not bring Kirill home. Why?

Because he has Down syndrome and he is "better off" in an institution.

You can read the whole story here. Once you pick your chin up off the floor and wipe the tears out of your eyes. Let me say, I cannot tell you how much this bothers me. There are really no words.

Kirill's parents are appealing. However, it takes a LOT of money to even start the process, let alone carry it all the way through. There are a lot of us in the DS community who want to make sure Kirill gets home to his family. Institutional life is no place for ANYONE. EVER. And it boggles my mind that there is a loving home for Kirill and he is being denied for such a reason!

In order to help Kirill's family appeal this grossly misaligned judgement, please consider donating to this fund set up by several bloggers who adopted some of their children who have Down syndrome from other countries. For every $10 you donate you will be entered in a drawing to win some INCREDIBLE prizes.

Though no prize is as incredible as bringing Kirill home. Of keeping him out of an institution.  Please, please, donate!

Spread the Word to End the Word, The R-word, That Is!

Words have the power to destroy or heal. When words are true and kind, they can change the world.

-- Bhudda

Won't you pledge to choose your words thoughtfully? Little things & little words matter.

"Different, not less"

My father recently watched the Temple Grandin film starring Claire Danes and reminded me of the quote which titles this post. It's a great movie and I highly suggest watching it if you haven't already.

If people were to believe people with Down syndrome are in fact different, but not less than perhaps there would not be such a disparity in the amount of funding provided for DS research versus other conditions. Sadly, I am not shocked by this, but the truth is, until recently, I had not given it much thought. Please go read this post from a fellow blogger to learn more (click the excerpt below to read the whole post):

Ds researchers are able to come up with solutions to the issue of cognition, but they don't have the means. It overwhelms me to think that there could be a solution in just a few short years that will make a tremendous difference to Sammi. But without major Federal funding, this won't happen. We're so close.  It's a no-brainer, really. But why can't we get the backing we need to do this?

and please visit http://www.dsachieves.org/, join their mailing list, help to unite our scattered Ds organizations for the one cause we hold so near and dear to our hearts, making lives better for our children.

Thanks.