ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD
Members Only
lock close icon

Podcast | Living With, Not ‘Suffering From’ Down Syndrome

Published
Parenting
2 min read
story-hero-img
i
Aa
Aa
Small
Aa
Medium
Aa
Large
Hindi Female

While I struggle to set up my audio and find the record button, Anita sits watching me patiently, a full smile donning her face at all times.

She laughs at my clumsiness good-naturedly, and greets me with a bright ‘hello!’ when I do manage to set it up.

Her days are busy and I’ve caught her between online classes. She tells me about the cooking class she just attended and her online Kathak classes. We talk about movies, our favourite actors (her’s is Mohanlal), music, her modeling career, and all her artwork that she’s sold. It sounds like an ordinary enough conversation, but in reality, her story is an inspiring one, of grit and determination.

ADVERTISEMENTREMOVE AD

You see, when Anita was born, her parents were told she wouldn’t live beyond age 3, and that she wouldn’t be able to walk, talk, or do things that regular kids did, all because she was born with the genetic condition known as Down syndrome.

And Anita has disproved every bit of the prophecy all her life.

You can catch parts of my conversation with Anita in our latest podcast.

In the podcast, I also speak with Anita’s mother, Usha Menon, as well as Ranjan Sharma about some misconceptions associated with the condition, and how parents can care for their kids to ensure they get to live healthy and happy lives, that’s as ‘normal’ as any.

Around 1 in 800 babies in India alone are born with this condition, and yet they are misunderstood, written off as ‘lost causes’, and even abandoned.

Ranjan Sharma started a chain of WhatsApp (now Telegram) groups for this very reason. To spread awareness about the condition, to provide new and scared parents with a supportive community who understands them and shares their experiences, and also to counsel them through the process of bringing up a child with Down syndrome.

“Children with Down syndrome do not suffer from Down syndrome. They have some special needs that need to be taken care of, but don’t we all have some kind of special need or the other?”
Ranjan Sharma

(If you would like to contact Ranjan Sharma or join his international network of support groups, you can reach him at 98113 11052. You can also visit the group’s Facebook page here.)

(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)

0

Read Latest News and Breaking News at The Quint, browse for more from fit and parenting

Speaking truth to power requires allies like you.
Become a Member
3 months
12 months
12 months
Check Member Benefits
Read More
×
×