Down Syndrome – The Feature(d) Article

It was an hour after Vignesh was born. My son's pediatrician came over and said, “Your son might have Down Syndrome”. I did not have any idea what it was. Once I went home, I went online to search for whatever information I could get. I began to read blogs to get a clearer picture.

It was during these times, I came across an interesting blog written by a father of a young down syndrome girl. In one of his blogs, he had said how peculiar he used to feel when people sometimes told him that it did not look like his daughter had down syndrome. A lot of readers on the blog also said that they were annoyed when someone made a similar remark. I could not understand their feelings back then.

Just last week, I was speaking to a close friend of mine. She told me that Vignesh doesn’t seem to be having DS features. I could not help laughing. Although, I tried to make her understand that my son did have DS features, I guess she felt uncomfortable about the conversation and kept changing the topic.

Right from the moment that Vignesh popped into this world, we have adored him for what he was. And, I’m so proud of him. Proud that he has fought more battles in these 10 months than I have in my 30 years and did so with a smile and resilience. Yes, at times, there is fear of the future. But, I guess, DS or not, every parent has those moments of fear about their child's future.

And when it comes to his physical appearance, in my frank opinion free of any manipulation, I strongly believe that devoid of DS, my son would not have looked all that handsome as he is now.

Vignesh at birth

By denying him of DS, you are just taking away all these beautiful features away from him. For all that you know, Vignesh would not have had such expressive eyes, whole-hearted smile and that cute nose, if it was not for DS. I really love him for whatever he is –from the bottom of my heart.