I knew of one of these in Christchurch (New Zealand) when I lived there, but I dont know if they would have something like this in Manhatten (where I think of when you say "New York") because I assume the rents would be too high.
I think there are more of these around now than say 50 years ago.
Still thinking of Mark.. Never met him, but as the "father" of the site, he must have been an awsome dude.. Kia Kaha
I've never heard that Switzerland has higher numbers. However, as someone else already said: the Swiss tend to get married later than in many other countries and therefore women are oftentimes older when they have children. Also: Bern has top-notch medical facilities and care centers - perhaps families with children who have Down Syndrome just choose to live in Bern more frequently because of that?
I noticed a huge number of people with Parkinson's disease in Basel. I never quite understood why the number seems to be so high in Basel until I learned that the University hospital has a competence center for Parkinson's and people with the disease come to Basel for treatment from all over Switzerland and the surrounding countries. Also, I work near the University hospital so that explains that.
regards,
peter
Good luck carter and enjoy your little angel...xxx
Scientific studies show that in the 1980s Switzerland had one of the lowest rates in Europe.
I learned this much only because I had two babies in Switzerland and I wanted to know what the tests are for. But I knew that I would still have these same children and love them the same regardless of the results.
Congratulations, Carter, on the birth of your daughter.
"Down syndrome livebirth rate in the eastern part of Switzerland between 1980 and 1996 stays constant in spite of growing numbers of prenatally diagnosed and subsequently terminated cases"
Also in German:
My husband and I recently moved here with our 15 month old little girl who has Down syndrome. I just sent you a message through the board with my contact info, if you ever want to get in touch.
Congratulations!
Prigryan and Carter --- although it may be difficult at times, as the years go by, you will be thanking God for having blessed you with so much love. I lost my sister who had Down Syndrome 2 years ago now and I still miss her so very much. She was stubborn. loving, loyal, temperamental, a joker, fun etc, etc. She made us (my family) better people. I will send you my contact details in a PM.
they are very active and do a lot in terms of giving support and creating awareness program.
hope this bit of info helps.
I've just moved to Switzerland from Oz with my 23 yr old daughter who has Downs Syndrome, and would be happy to have a chat. have you found any support groups yet? And ... I can testify here in Zurich my daughter is attracting much more than her fair share of attention. (Not that this bothers her. There are a lot of people here who will recognise us next time they see us.)
JLou
What I will remember most about her was that I had played Santa Claus for the school's Christmas party, and only this little girl with Down's Syndrome had recognized that it was me behind the costume. None of the other kid's had a clue. Such a special little girl....
My daughter (born 1983) in the French section of Ecolint in Geneva in 1992-93 had a Trisomy 21 classmate who spoke French, Italian and English. His parents provided a teacher's aide; the child was fortunate that his parents could afford it.
There are other useful hits if you Google '"syndrome de Down" suisse statistiques'. Or the equivalent in German.
I just recently posted the following links to another member of the EF. Maybe you know them already, maybe you can use some of the infos:
http://www.kinderspitex-zuerich.ch/
For people in Zurich there is also the Kinderspitex, I'm sure something similar might exist in other cantons.
The thing with these stats is that they're not particularly reliable. Often, the reason for why a pregnancy is terminated is not documented. My doctor told me that there are also so many miscarriages following a nuchal fold and triple/quadruple test. It seems these may sometimes be due to the stress of deciding what to do, but of course how can you determine if that really is the cause of miscarriage. Really, the only stat you could try to research would be the OP's question of if there's a higher prevalence in Switzerland or not.
Carter, congratulations on the birth of your daughter; enjoy the lovely journey ahead of you.
My girl's 18 months now and a complete poppet (obviously - hey, I'm her mother so I'm biased!) and the services we receive here in Zurich are beyond belief - we're very looked after compared to the rest of the world it seems!
Just back from the World Down syndrome Congress in Dublin last week - it was mind blowingly packed with info - gonna be a busy couple of years in our house!!
John1975 - interested to know where you work - hoping for a regular once or twice a week morning spot in some kind of playgroup set up near me for my girl as it's time she got social, but finding it quite difficult in reality....
JillL. Would love to meet up - wow, that's quite a move for you guys! I'll pm you!
Thanks again!
I and many Catholics in Switzerland refuse to pay taxes to the church and personally, I'd hate to be confronted with the choice of terminating or not terminating a foetus, but perhaps would have to if there was a severe disability present in test results. I grew up knowing lots of Catholic girls who had abortions, so the old sterotype of Catholicism or Catholic peers restricting women in such decision making is not viable here.
I have a 35 year old sister who has Down's - my mother had her when she was 38 - and perhaps the main reason she was not aborted was that she was conceived out of love and was kept out of love. Although testing was not available then, my parents wouldn't have considered an abortion as the child was not conceived out of necessity, but out of the wish to have a child.
Today, there appears to be a 'need' for children by both parents which is postponed till the desire to 'live', have careers, etc is fulfilled. Only then is conception (by what ever means) considered at a later stage of life, which is very risky. One only has to recall the botched termination of twins in Italy two years ago to see how terminations can not always settle 'unsavoury' matters as bearing a handicapped child:
http://www.patriciaebauer.com/2007/0...disabled-twin/
Personally I 'd never consider termination a solution to such a small handicap as Down's Syndrome. As long as anyone - handicapped / 'normal' (whatever that is)- is integrated fully into society then life is full of possibilities.
My parents didn't see my sister's handicap as an end to their conceiving days either and went on to have another kid a year later - my youngest brother - and he didn't have any disabilities at all.