How do you interact with people with Down's Syndrome?

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I saw a documentary about Downs Syndrome on TV last year.

It was about a woman who adopted 2 children with DS, they were now grown up and in their teens. One of her sons had autism and DS. He was very withdrawn and stayed in his room most of the time. He could not talk and often got very angry. She explained that 1/3 people with DS also has autism.

However, his other brother was very social, he only had DS. And he had an NT friend, who brought him to a disco to meet girls, he got on very well with women but they only liked him as a friend, which made him feel very sad.

Since I like hugs(to a certain degree)I really don't mind. I usually just say EXZACTLY what I mean,and avoid cursing.


-SpaceCase

There is a young woman at my workplace with Down Syndrome. She is very high functioning and very competent.

I treat people with Downs syndrome as I would anyone. I was that way even as a child, where I would play with a Downs child just as easily as a NT. I have a friend now who has a really sweet 3 year old with Downs who had surgery as an infant to repair a common heart defect.

Like normal, I guess. I would actually be more comfortable around my coworker with Down's Syndrome than my NT coworkers. I dunno, she was just really friendly, nonjudgmental, and fun.

DS people are interesting. They do in some ways seem to be our exact opposite because yes they do talk on and on and on and they will tell you how they feel other people think. Where I grew up there was a lot of DS people and it bugged me that those people, or more specifically the guys, were so attracted to me. Maybe its like having "Gaydar" except DS people seem to be able to tell an autistic person from the crowd and they want to consider an autistic as one of them. So they home in on us. Anyone else experienced this?

Everywhere I go I attract DS & MR people whether it was in school or the bag boy at the grocery store. Also low spectrum auties seem to have this same radar and can tell that I'm "one of the team" when I can often pass as an NT for short periods of time like at work and such. Its just like having a bunch of Downs' groupies or a fanclub where I lived before. Where I live now it seems like there are 100 times more autistics of varying degrees than DS or MR.

But it makes me think maybe there are misconceptions about MR. Or maybe people were diagnosed with MR that are really Aspies. Like on NPR this woman spoke of what it was like to have MR. The woman sounded NT to me and I kept thinking "holy s**t this woman's MR?!?" So me thinks society has mislead us on those people as much as society misunderstands ASD. However it seems prejudice how DS people are so loved and people think its so precious when they see a DS child, but the word autism brings up images of possessed monster children and psychopathes.

The ones I have met so far have been total sweethearts!

Well, I've met people with MR, but it took me a while to figure out they were any different from anyone else. So I kind of didn't know to treat them any different, and didn't. I'm also faceblind, so figuring out if somebody had Down's probably wouldn't be possible from just facial features, unless it was really pronounced... maybe if they had REALLY Asian-looking eyes and blonde hair or something.

I've been known to get a bit confused before I figured out they didn't get my big words, though. Most NTs get them, but just don't use them themselves... somebody with MR mightn't know those words. So I have to tell the difference between annoyance and confusion before I figure out what's what.

All in all... they're just people. I guess I would be annoyed if they tried to hug me; but NTs do that too.

I have an Aunt with Downs, but she has it severe she is on the level of a 4 year old, we don't use baby talk, she's in a Nursing Home, we sometimes visit her and maybe color with her, she usually blows kisses to everyone and she laughs a lot.

You just should be nice to them, they can be sensitive.

My mother's old friend had/has a child with Down's syndrome. My sister seemed to get along with him well, but he kinda ignored me, and I ignored him (we had this joint ignoring thingy going down; I think we both sucked at the social game, and since my sister is pretty good at it, she built the bridge for Brad). To answer the question, the same as anyone else [depending on their behaviour], of course.

Luna, speaking of Down Syndrome? well, I can recall how there was this individual whom used to volunteer at the local library and in that scenario both of us managed to get along quite well.. Also, many years ago I can recall doing some volunteer work with children whom had cerebal palsy therefore, I've learned to always treat others like human beings despite what difficulties a person has whether it is of a physical,mental,emotional,social form etc..


ProfessorX

Just try to treat them as normal humans with maybe a few learning disabilities or a slight delay in development. They're still people, after all - many of them have great ideas, but they just can't squeeze them out of the same communication pathways that the rest of us do.

Like anybody else really.
This is the sort of thing that I didn't used to notice until other people pointed it out to me.

I'm pleased to say, that in my obliviousness, I treated her with the same respect as I would any other human being.

Very, very chatty.
It did get a bit intense at times, so it was quite exhausting for me to keep up and interpret it all.
Some of the emotions were way off the scale, but anyway, she seemed like a decent, understanding sort of person.

Wanted to tell me all about her family and people.
My discussions don't tend to focus on other people so much. If I discuss other people at all, I focus on what other people do and what they have.

She seemed genuinely friendly and helpful though.
It was just a pity that some other people couldn't see this.