Welcome to this edition of the DS Support Newsletter!

JackHammer Outing Last of summer bash. Come join us for a family outing at the Joliet Jackhammer Game, Sunday Aug 19th. Game starts at 5:05. Free for DS Support Members, if you would like to invite along Grandparents or friends the cost is $13 per person. Please call (815-439-8693) or email by Aug 8 with the number of adults and kids that will be attending.

5th Annual DS Support Buddy Walk Don't forget about this years Buddy Walk. It's going to be better than ever!! Online Registration is open. www.chicagolandbuddywalk.org

Awareness Project

DS Support has purchased 50 copies of the teachers edition of the book My Friend Isabelle We want to distribute them to area schools and need your help. Please pick up a copy and give it to your child's teacher. Copies can be found at the GiGi's Plainfield location. Isabelle and Charlie are friends. They both like to draw, dance, read, and play at the park. They both like to eat Cheerios. They both cry if their feelings are hurt. And like most friends, they are also different from each other. Isabelle has Down syndrome. Charlie doesn't.

This son reveals size of heart
January 24, 2007
Dr. Rachel Bryant

A friend of mine has a 13 year old son with Down syndrome. Getting to know her means getting to know her journey with her son. But for that matter, getting to know any mother, really, means getting to know about their journey as a mom.

When we learn that a mother's child has a serious disability, we have questions. We wonder how they are doing. What has it been like? What are their biggest fears? How do they handle the publicness of their private anguish?

My friend and I talked about the anticipated and unanticipated obstacles that had to be overcome. We talked a little bit about the ones that couldn't be overcome. But through our conversation, what comes through is that this is about a mother and a child. Hers is not a "son with Down," but rather, her son, a unique, individual and lovable as any other. His Down syndrome is simply a part of who he is.

Thoughtful and reflective, my friend was not resistant to my questions. Nor was she defensive. She knew that I cared and that I would respect her experience and hold it as reverent. And over lunch, as she shared a little more with me about her son, she told me these profound words: "One thing I've learned over the past 13 years is that my son reveals the size of a person's heart."

This mom had experienced everything from outright affection to outright rejection of her son.

She had to steal herself to be an advocate and learn which battles to fight. And somehow, in accepting her son's limitations, she learned to accept the limitations of others too.

Instead of feeling bitterness towards the inflexible teacher, she saw a person who was less capable of extending their empathy toward someone perceived as too different from them.

I was so impressed with her quiet appreciation of where another person was in their own development. She was not judgmental, even as she learned how judgmental others could be. She learned which hearts were more open, capable, embracing, and which were encased, unable to embrace, even unwilling.

And her son has taught her which hearts are growing. She became a student and teacher as well as advocate, as she learned to negotiate her way through the maze of special education.
And as she learned acceptance, she found many pearls along the way that might be hidden from others' view. She has met wonderful teachers who loved her son, teachers who hold a world view that doesn't have a narrow definition of beauty. And these teachers, and others, affirm what my friend already knows.

To be sure, there are more fears and obstacles ahead. But my friend and her son will also come to know, and perhaps even help to develop, the size of a few hearts along the way.

Dr. Rachel Bryant is a licensed psychologist in private practice in the Southern Tier. The Star-Gazette will forward comments and questions. Send them to: Star-Gazette, Attn: Features Department, 201 Baldwin St., P.O. Box 285, Elmira, NY 14902.

2007 Chicago Area Calendar

Chicagoland Buddy Walk
Oct 7, 2007
Ty Warner Park, Westmont, IL
www.chicagolandbuddywalk.org

National Events

THE 35th NDSC NATIONAL CONVENTION
August 3-5, 2007
Kansas City, MO

DS Support Planning Meeting - If you are interested in helping out with the planning of DS Support events please contact us.