CAUTION: NO FIX ZONE

I was thinking, cuz that’s what I do, I think and then I write. I was thinking about what might be an interpretation or possible interpretations of our purpose for advocating for space, opportunity and the complicated simplicity of being SEEN for Elijah. I started wondering, “ if someone hasn’t had the opportunity to experience life with Lij and our family as we go on this journey. If someone hasn't experienced our FIGHT for all these things, that person, could have the potential of misunderstanding that DOWN SYNDROME IS A NO FIX ZONE.”.

SO, I’m gonna error on the side of communication and bring some quick clarity the best I can! 

This world, no matter where we live or in what time period we live in, has, throughout history, passed judgment on groups of people. For people this Down Syndrome, MUCH judgement and MANY ASSUMPTIONS has been placed. In the past, people who have lived with Down Syndrome have been institutionalized with the assumption that an extra chromosome means living in the same world as everyone else isn’t possible. Currently, babies with Down Syndrome are aborted at a rate of around 90% (give or take a bit depending on the studies). All the assumptions made and actions that have and still result from our assumptions beg us to revisit and rethink the thoughts we have. 

One of the most overwhelming assumptions about people with Down Syndrome is that, because of an extra chromosome, people with Down Syndrome  don’t have the capacity to______(fill in the blank). 

The thing is that people with Down Syndrome have the capacity to do WHATEVER the heck they want!!! 

Life with an extra chromosome is LIMITLESS. 

 I realized that with a different world view, the statement above could also be misunderstood. You see, Lij has LIMITLESS CAPACITY as he chooses to live life on his terms. Here’s the assumption that I realized is sometimes attached to the end of that statement, “people with Down Syndrome have LIMITLESS CAPACITY  for the purpose of having the opportunity of BEING FIXED. 

NO!!!  The JOY OF LIMITLESS CAPACITY IS NOT FOR THE SAKE OF BEING FIXED

I’ll say it again! The goal is not to do all the the things so that that Lij can be “FIXED”. The goal isn’t to make Elijah like everyone else, to fix him until he fits into a “typical person box” so he can live in a “typical person box world”!

Lij is capable of whatever he chooses to be capable of because it’s his right as a human being to be so. PERIOD.

He IS capable to be and has the right to be himself in a world that creates space for his amazing existence. 

Lij is not capable for the purpose of fixing, he is capable for the purpose of being seen as human. 

Lij is capable because he can if he wants to be. He is capable because he has the freedom to do so. He has the capacity to grow how he decides (and he DOES lead that charge, believe me!). 

I am clarifying, friends, that we fight for a space for PEOPLE to exist wholly in this world, people with Down Syndrome, people with Autism, people who don’t “fit in our box”, NOT because Elijah always needs the opportunity of BEING FIXED TO EXIST, but because he DOES EXIST. And that, my friends, is ENOUGH.