Recognizing Humanity, Perceiving Ableism: Supporting Parents of Children with Down Syndrome

Abstract: This commentary reflects on twelve narratives authored by parents of children with Down syndrome. While the narratives represent a diverse set of experiences, the commentary identifies some repeated narrative aims, unified under the goal of recognition. For example, multiple authors explicitly or implicitly seek recognition of their children beyond stereotypes while others hope to make ableist values and practices more visible to clinicians and other readers. Through their rich descriptions of parenting, the authors also show themselves to be in need of support both in terms of material and bureaucratic support to be able to provide their children with necessary resources but also support for their parental decision-making. In other words, the authors make the labor of parenting a disabled child recognizable, attributing the cause of much of the labor to ableist systems and beliefs. The commentary suggests that recognition—of children with Down syndrome as fully human and of parents as in need of support—is a valuable and necessary starting point for political action.