Reasons to Celebrate: Kennedy-Brownback gets funded and Indy is ranked #1 in Accessibility

Great news! The Kennedy-Brownback Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act gets funded to the tune of $820,000 over the next four years. This is what many Ds organizations advocated for when we made our trip to Washington DC earlier this year. According the National Down Syndrome Society and the National Down Syndrome Congress, “The funding "seeks to increase patient referrals to providers of key support services for women who have received a positive test diagnosis for Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, Dwarfism and other prenatally or postnatally diagnosed conditions; strengthen existing networks of support through outreach programs; improve available data by incorporating up-to-date, evidence-based information into existing state programs for birth defects and prenatally or postnatally diagnosed conditions and ensure that patients receive information about the accuracy of the diagnostic tests for the conditions. Provisions also include the establishment of or increased access to a resource hotline." The actual bill was signed into law by former President Bush on October 8, 2008. However, it did not come with any Congressional appropriations to enact the recommendations until now.

This has the Down syndrome community excited because we want our families to be provided with up to date and accurate information about raising a child with Down syndrome. It is currently estimated that 90% of women who receive a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome terminate the pregnancy. This is not a prolife or prochoice issue, again, this is just making sure that women are presented with up to date and accurate information. For example, do families know that there is a waiting list to adopt a child with Down syndrome? If they knew this, would they rethink abortion? Are mothers really still being told that their child will not know how to count change or ever get a job? Some are and we want to make sure that parents have the opportunity to learn more about Down syndrome and the joys of raising or even of knowing individuals with Down syndrome because those statements are simply not true!

For a change let’s thank our congressional representatives for making this happen!

Also, did you know that in April 2009, Indianapolis, Indiana was chosen as the winner of the Accessible America Competition? The National Organization on Disability (NOD) chose the city as a national model for, “its focus on disability issues and successful design of programs, services and facilities that are accessible for citizens and visitors that have disabilities”. Some say we still have a long way to go. What do you think?