This Kind of Love

from the Huffington Post:
Two weeks ago, I got in my car to attend the meet-up organized by the International Down Syndrome Coalition (IDSC). I wore my "Love Doesn't Count Chromosomes" t-shirt, and so did every member of my family.
My 7-year-old asked, "Why does it say that?" I listened close as my oldest -- only 8 years old -- responded. "Some people think it's bad to have Down syndrome, but it's not. Having someone with Down syndrome in your family means that you have so much love, and we are so lucky to have this love."
I smiled. How strange to think I was initially sad when my daughter was born with Down syndrome!
How incredible that we were traveling to meet with other people who loved someone with Down syndrome. The gathering was purposed to celebrate their lives and to kick off World Down Syndrome Day. Indeed, we live with so much love.

Down syndrome advocates urge U.S. Supreme Court to address prenatal discrimination

 PRESS RELEASE: 8 November 2013

Saving Downs is one of three Down syndrome advocacy groups that have filed a legal brief with the U.S. Supreme Court urging them to address inequalities that discriminate against those prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome.

The brief urges that the principle of support to the parents be aligned with the Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act and the American Disabilities Act.

ENDS

Supporting notes:
For more information contact the relevant Down syndrome advocacies:
Jerome Lejeune Foundation USA:  http://www.lejeuneusa.org/
Saving Downs:  http://www.savingdowns.com/
The International Down Syndrome Coalition:  http://www.theidsc.org

The full legal brief can be read at:  http://bdfund.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/FILED-AmicusLeJeuneSDiDSC-BDF.pdf

Girl with Down syndrome arrested in Pakistan for burning verses of the Koran

from Dawn.com:
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s president on Monday called on officials to explain the arrest on blasphemy charges of a Christian girl with Down’s Syndrome who allegedly burnt pages inscribed with verses from the Quran.
There is a growing debate about religious intolerance in Pakistan, where strict anti-blasphemy laws make defaming Islam or desecrating the Quran punishable by death.
Police said the girl, Rifta, was arrested in a Christian slum of the capital last Thursday and remanded in custody for 14 days after a furious Muslim mob demanded she be punished.
A police official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said the girl was in her teens. Activists say she is 11 years old.
President Asif Ali Zardari took “serious note” of the arrest and called on the interior ministry to submit a report on the case, state media said.
His government was heavily criticised in the West for refusing to reform the anti-blasphemy law, despite the assassinations of a leading politician and a Christian cabinet minister in 2011.
Some reports suggested the girl had been burning papers collected from the rubbish for cooking when someone entered her house and accused the family of burning pages inscribed with verses from the Quran.
Human rights activists say the law is often used to settle petty disputes.
Muslim anger over the alleged incident forced Christians to flee the Mehrabad slum, home to hundreds of Christians 20 minutes’ drive from Western embassies.
“These Christians had sought shelter with their relatives in other parts of the city but now they are gradually returning to Mehrabad,” a senior official of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, told AFP.
He said the girl had Down’s Syndrome — a condition which causes various degrees of learning difficulties — and disputed the age given by police.
“She was just 11 to 12 years old,” he said, adding his organisation wanted the hugely sensitive case resolved “amicably”.The Women’s Action Forum (WAF), a leading Pakistani organisation fighting for the rights of women, condemned Riftaa’s arrest.
Spokeswoman Tahira Abdullah demanded her immediate release and expressed outrage at the “total inhumanity” of the men who lodged the case with police.
Police should have dealt with the case under the Juvenile Justice System, she said, accusing police of not allowing lawyers or civil society representatives to visit the girl.
Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated in January 2011 and minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti two months later for their opposition to the blasphemy law.
They had taken up the plight of a Christian mother sentenced to death for blasphemy in late 2010. She remains in prison.
Last month, a Pakistani mob snatched a mentally unstable man from a village police station and beat him to death in central Punjab province after he allegedly burned pages from a Quran.

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more from Fox News:

But some police officials doubt reports that Rimsha burned parts of the Koran.
Qasim Niazi said when the girl was brought to the police station she had a shopping bag that contained various religious and Arabic-language papers that had been partly burned, but no Koran.
Another police officer said the matter would likely be dropped once the investigation is completed and the atmosphere is defused, saying there was "nothing much to the case." He did not want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the case.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/08/20/christian-girl-with-down-syndrome-faces-death-penalty-for-allegedly-burning/#ixzz2475iQ7hg

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Facebook response from GDSF, NDSS, DSEi, IDSC, and NDSC:
The Global Down Syndrome Foundation, the National Down Syndrome Society, Down Syndrome Education International and the International Down Syndrome Coalition have joined together in shared concern over the fate of Rifta Masih, a young Pakistani girl reported to have Down syndrome, who allegedly was jailed and faces life-threatening implications.
People with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities are a vulnerable population. Although early intervention and inclusion in some nations has meant great gains for many, there are still people with intellectual disabilities who have difficulty processing information or fully understanding the consequences of their actions.
We hope and expect that people from all countries and cultures, including those in the United States, will take this into account in terms of how people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities are handled in police- and security-related matters. We strongly encourage the Pakistani police to ensure the young girl's safety and to allow family members and others who are known and trusted by the girl to stay with her to the extent that detention is necessary for her own protection.
It is very difficult for most people with intellectual disabilities to be taken out of their routine, and sometimes this may trigger agitated or uncontrollable behavior. We hope that this young girl will be able to return to the routine where she is safe and happy. We join others in urging restraint and compassion in this situation.