Man with Down syndrome receives over 1,800 Christmas cards

from My Fox 8 Piedmont News:
NEW YORK — Not a hippopotamus. Not his two front teeth. All Elliot Shirback wanted for Christmas this year was cards.
It was a wish heard around the country.
A houseful of cards poured in for the 25-year-old New York man who has Down syndrome, according to his mother’s Facebook pages.
More than 1,800 have arrived, coming from nearly every state, CNN affiliate YNN reported.
“I’m, like, blessed right now,” Shirback told the network.
It all started because of his mother, Anne Daggett.
Shirback was sad one day. She wanted to make him feel better so she asked what he wanted for Christmas.
“A hundred Christmas cards,” he said, according to his mother’s Facebook post. “I said it might be a little too late for that and people have much things on the plate,” his mother wrote, “If anyone can send him a card He would love it!!!!!”
She included the address. Friends and family put the word out on Facebook and it exploded from there.
“I thought maybe he might get 35 cards at best. Next thing I know, it’s like a flurry and gone viral,” Daggett told YNN.
Their home is now covered in cards. One reads: “Elliot, you are loved.”
“It makes me happy,” he said. “It’s like a gift, like somebody loves and cares about you.”

Santa needs some help getting to Erika's house

by Matt Harper from the Daily Record:
Erika loves Santa Claus, but she thinks Santa can’t come to her house anymore.
Erika (Case J-1) is a 25-year-old girl with Down Syndrome who is faithfully cared for by her mother, June. June spends every day caring for her daughter and cannot work as a result. Though she shows her daughter an immense amount of love, they get by on very little money, which makes it impossible for June to afford gifts for Christmas. She is desperate to show Erika that Santa can still visit them, but that won’t happen without help from Operation Holiday and Daily Record readers.
Since 1971, Operation Holiday, a non-profit organization sponsored by the Woman’s Club of Morristown and the Daily Record, has raised over $2.7 million, and last year donations totaled more than $132,000. As a result, with the help of local individuals, schools, and businesses, Operation Holiday last year provided more than 450 families and individuals with necessary items they cannot afford and granted some of their very special wishes.
For more than a month, each day you have learned about those referred to Operation Holiday by more than 20 social service agencies in Morris County, many of whom find themselves all alone during the holiday season. In these last few days before Christmas, the Daily Record will continue to share their stories with you and ask for your donations to do what we can to help lift each other up in the spirit of the season. Once donations are received, volunteer shoppers purchase needed items for delivery to the families in time for the holidays.
Without the help of the hundreds of generous readers who reach deep in their pockets each holiday season and donate to the campaign, we cannot continue this proud tradition.
Contributions to this year’s Operation Holiday campaign can be mailed to The Woman’s Club of Morristown, 51 South St., Morristown, N.J. 07960. Donations are tax-deductible, and every penny goes to help the needy of Morris County. All administrative costs are covered by the sponsors, and all work is done with the help of volunteers. Any inquiries regarding Operation Holiday, including interest in helping to cover a family’s needs, can be directed to OperationHolidayNJ@gmail.com.
Erika would love to receive a portable CD player and CDs of children’s music, as well colorful picture books. She could also use a warm blanket, especially one featuring any Nickelodeon characters. June would appreciate receiving turtlenecks in size large and a crockpot and gluten free cookbook to prepare gluten free meals for Erika. A gift card to Shoprite to purchase gluten free food would be especially helpful.
Jill (Case T-27) is a single mother who suffers with anxiety and mental illness. Her daughter, Autumn, 9, is dealing with depression and other difficulties despite her young age. They live together in a small apartment and do their best to get by on very little. Jill would love to make Christmas special for Autumn, but can’t do it on her own. Autumn needs tops in size 10-12, jeans in size 14 and a winter jacket in size large. She would love to receive age-appropriate books, dolls and anything related to One Direction. Jill could use sweaters and winter coat in size extra large, pants in size 20-22, sheets for a full size bed and warm blankets. They could also benefit from receiving gift cards to ShopRite and Walmart to purchase food and household supplies.

Adult tricycle tops daughter with Down syndrome’s Christmas wish list

by Chris Graham from the Telegraph:

Down syndrome, a genetic condition that causes delays in physical and intellectual development, is the most frequently occurring chromosomal disorder, according to the National Association for Down Syndrome.

Individuals affected have 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46; however, they’re more like others than they are different, blessed with talents and gifts.

A mother hopes a “Mailbag Santa” will offer the gift of mobility, and perhaps schedule elves to deliver.

Would love to get around

“I have a 27-year-old Down syndrome daughter who has asked for a bike (adult tricycle, three-wheeler) for Christmas,” says Betty J., of Nashua (LTR 3,086). “This is something that I cannot afford at this time. I would like to know if anyone has one that they would be willing to donate to her.”

While some adults with Down syndrome may require a more structured environment, many others are capable of working and enjoying activities offered in the community. Accessing resources and services is sure to be easier, more comfortable and approached with more confidence for those physically challenged with the aid of an independent means of transportation.

If you have an adult tricycle in good condition that is no longer being used, here is an excellent opportunity to pass it along. Ho! Ho! Ho! To make this “a go” and set the wheels in motion, call Betty at 233-5648.

Jon Will's gift

from the Washington Post by George F. Will:

When Jonathan Frederick Will was born 40 years ago — on May 4, 1972, his father’s 31st birthday — the life expectancy for people with Down syndrome was about 20 years. That is understandable. The day after Jon was born, a doctor told Jon’s parents that the first question for them was whether they intended to take Jon home from the hospital. Nonplussed, they said they thought that is what parents do with newborns. Not doing so was, however, still considered an acceptable choice for parents who might prefer to institutionalize or put up for adoption children thought to have necessarily bleak futures. Whether warehoused or just allowed to languish from lack of stimulation and attention, people with Down syndrome, not given early and continuing interventions, were generally thought to be incapable of living well, and hence usually did not live as long as they could have.

Down syndrome is a congenital condition resulting from a chromosomal defect — an extra 21st chromosome. It causes varying degrees of mental retardation and some physical abnormalities, including small stature, a single crease across the center of the palms, flatness of the back of the head, a configuration of the tongue that impedes articulation, and a slight upward slant of the eyes. In 1972, people with Down syndrome were still commonly called Mongoloids.

Now they are called American citizens, about 400,000 of them, and their life expectancy is 60. Much has improved. There has, however, been moral regression as well.

Jon was born just 19 years after James Watson and Francis Crick published their discoveries concerning the structure of DNA, discoveries that would enhance understanding of the structure of Jon, whose every cell is imprinted with Down syndrome. Jon was born just as prenatal genetic testing, which can detect Down syndrome, was becoming common. And Jon was born eight months before Roe v. Wade inaugurated this era of the casual destruction of pre-born babies.

This era has coincided, not just coincidentally, with the full, garish flowering of the baby boomers’ vast sense of entitlement, which encompasses an entitlement to exemption from nature’s mishaps, and to a perfect baby. So today science enables what the ethos ratifies, the choice of killing children with Down syndrome before birth. That is what happens to 90 percent of those whose parents receive a Down syndrome diagnosis through prenatal testing.

Which is unfortunate, and not just for them. Judging by Jon, the world would be improved by more people with Down syndrome, who are quite nice, as humans go. It is said we are all born brave, trusting and greedy, and remain greedy. People with Down syndrome must remain brave in order to navigate society’s complexities. They have no choice but to be trusting because, with limited understanding, and limited abilities to communicate misunderstanding, they, like Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” always depend on the kindness of strangers. Judging by Jon’s experience, they almost always receive it.

Two things that have enhanced Jon’s life are the Washington subway system, which opened in 1976, and the Washington Nationals baseball team, which arrived in 2005. He navigates the subway expertly, riding it to the Nationals ballpark, where he enters the clubhouse a few hours before game time and does a chore or two. The players, who have climbed to the pinnacle of a steep athletic pyramid, know that although hard work got them there, they have extraordinary aptitudes because they are winners of life’s lottery. Major leaguers, all of whom understand what it is to be gifted, have been uniformly and extraordinarily welcoming to Jon, who is not.

Except he is, in a way. He has the gift of serenity, in this sense:
The eldest of four siblings, he has seen two brothers and a sister surpass him in size, and acquire cars and college educations. He, however, with an underdeveloped entitlement mentality, has been equable about life’s sometimes careless allocation of equity. Perhaps this is partly because, given the nature of Down syndrome, neither he nor his parents have any tormenting sense of what might have been. Down syndrome did not alter the trajectory of his life; Jon was Jon from conception on.

This year Jon will spend his birthday where every year he spends 81 spring, summer and autumn days and evenings, at Nationals Park, in his seat behind the home team’s dugout. The Phillies will be in town, and Jon will be wishing them ruination, just another man, beer in hand, among equals in the republic of baseball.

NDSS merchandise

from the NDSS December e-newsletter:

Last month we introduced Shop NDSS partner Rhyme & Reason Clothing and announced that NDSS signature t-shirts would be coming soon.  The wait is over!  We are proud to unveil a collection of men's, women's and kids' t-shirts featuring 3:21 on the front, symbolic of the third copy of chromosome 21 in Trisomy 21, and the NDSS logo on the back.

Adult shirts are $25 each and kids' shirts are $15 each. $5 will be donated to NDSS for every signature shirt purchased.

Guys will love the fit and feel of this t-shirt, made from 100% cotton with anti-pilling finish. It is so comfortable it will become an instant favorite, and its subtle message will make them feel good about wearing it as often as their favorite jeans (okay, maybe not that often).

The quality and fit of the women's t-shirt will make it the one that spends more time outside the drawer than in it, and wearing it will help to spread the word that people with Down syndrome are valued and loved members of our society. The flattering style and color options suit all sizes and skin tones. The women's shirts are made from 95% cotton, 5% lycra with an anti-pilling finish.

Whether they're learning to tell time or setting their own alarm clocks, kids will love knowing the 'secret' meaning behind 3:21 and will enjoy sharing this info with their friends. It's always the right time to learn to accept and include someone with Down syndrome! These t-shirts are made from 100% cotton with anti-pilling finish.

Rhyme & Reason clothing can only be purchased online. Standard shipping time is 3-5 business days. For all items other than NDSS signature t-shirts, customers who use the code NDSS25 will receive 25% off their purchase and free shipping from now until the end of the year. 10% of these purchases will be donated to NDSS. 

Click here to visit the Rhyme & Reason website.

Click here to view more photos of the NDSS Signature t-shirts on Facebook.

 

Softball sisters

From ESPN:

"Michala is my biggest fan, my biggest critic, my best friend -- my worst enemy sometimes," Michelle said, punctuating the last category with a shake of her head and a laugh. "She's the kind of person I strive to be like. She's the definition of bold. She's bold, she's inspired, she's smart, she's funny, she can hold a conversation. She can get a group to come together around her. She's what I want to be."

Michala also has Down syndrome, a chromosomal condition affecting hundreds of thousands of children marked by an array of distinctive physical traits and varying degrees of cognitive impairment. But even as that reality undeniably shapes her world in countless ways, it does not limit the effect she has on others as she travels through it.

"When I think about, 'I don't want to do that paper,' I think about [that] my sister can't do that paper," Michelle said. "So you know what, let me go ahead and knock this out. Let me go ahead and knock this out because there are people who are in my life who don't have the opportunity I have. She's just so great. If you're feeling down, she's just the person who is like, 'What's going on?' And as annoying as it might seem at that time, she just brings light to your bad situation."

There was little good about the situation when Michala was born two months premature. Just 10 years old at the time, Michelle recalls her older brother Michael telling her they had to be extra nice to their mom -- a universal sign of concession among any siblings that something serious is afoot -- when she came home from the hospital. Michelle wasn't entirely sure at that time how big newborn babies were supposed to be, but she was pretty sure there was something extraordinary about her new sister fitting in just one of her 10-year-old hands. The fight didn't get easier for Michala, who needed heart surgery when she was 2 years old.

Yet if all those challenges and others posed by Down syndrome made it clear that Michala's experience was unlike those of her older siblings, and most other children, her family tried from the outset to treat her just like any other child. There wasn't any crash course in the specifics of Down syndrome for Michelle and Michael. Instead, they pushed Michala to keep up like any younger sibling, mindful only that things might take her a little longer. These days, she goes to school and does her homework at the kitchen table like any other kid her age. She's a constant in the bleachers (and the concession stand, the concourses or anywhere else she wants to venture) at Michelle's games, both in Evanston and at the tournaments in Arizona and California the Wildcats frequent during the season's opening months.

And, of course, she is enough a part of Michelle's teams to call the occasional meeting. "I'm so happy that we let her experience all these things that a lot of kids don't experience who don't have disabilities," Michelle said. "She just has grown so much, I think, from being around teams and being around people I have played with and seeing all these things and picking up things."

That list of things includes one of the gadgets increasingly ubiquitous in the preteen set -- a cellphone. And with a list of many of Michelle's current and former teammates programmed in it, Michala is in constant communication.

"She's a tough, tough girl," said senior Jordan Wheeler, a frequent recipient of the calls and texts and one of Michala's longest-standing confidants on the team. "She's a tough judge. She's the one who is going to tell you when your hair looks a mess or your jersey is untucked. She just doesn't hold back, but that's one of the best things about her. That's one of the best things you would ask for from your closest friend is to be brutally honest. And she's just so lively and vivacious. She just has that spirit about her that she's going to be as blunt as she wants to be."

She's seen her little sister grow over the past four years, how her speech has improved to the point that she's universally understood and how she's able to gauge what's funny and how to make people laugh. She says she's not worried about her sister's future, that she believes Michala can find work and be self-sufficient in the future, especially with such strong family support behind her. Her only concern, she notes with a certain sisterly dryness, is that Michala may throw too many parties as she gets older.

In her pride is the other half of the story. Michelle's softball exploits gave Michala a setting in which she could find her voice, but that might have been a two-way street.

"That's one of the things that stands out to me the most about Michelle, is that she will give you the clothes off her back, she will give you all the time she has in the day just because she knows that you need her."

Perhaps she is that way because of how much her sister needed her. Perhaps Michala is the effervescent, charming girl that she is because Michelle was that way all along. Perhaps, as is so often the case, it's a little of both. And as much as they mean to each other, as one of the most productive on-field careers in Northwestern history winds to a close, it's clear that home runs are the least that Batts -- both Batts -- have to offer to an entire program.

"I think Michala is a tremendous inspiration to Michelle," Northwestern coach Kate Drohan said. "To have Michala around the team is a real gift. From the beginning of our recruiting process, when we first sat down with [parents] Maggie and Michael and Michala, it was obvious to our staff really how important Michala is to Michelle's experience. Just the love and caring Michelle shows for Michala is inspiring in itself. …

"How our team celebrates Michala is a big part of who we are."