Americans see Down syndrome in a new light

doubt our value, I’ll spell it out.

First, as I told the House subcommittee, I have a great life. I’ve been a guest lecturer at major universities. I’ve contributed to a best-selling book, had a feature role in an award-winning film, guest starred on an Emmy-winning television show, and have spoken to thousands of young people about the value of inclusion. I’ve received the Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Award from the Global Down Syndrome Foundation.

I’ve even been to the White House twice. And I didn’t have to jump the fence either time.

A Harvard study found people with Down syndrome and their families are happier and more stable than most people.

If that still doesn’t convince readers, maybe this will. Because of what we now understand about Down syndrome, we know that studying this condition offers insight into some of medicine’s most confounding disorders and diseases.

Take Alzheimer’s, which is slowly stealing my mom from me. Because we know that people with Down syndrome are highly likely to develop early-onset Alzheimer’s, my extra chromosome provides a blueprint for medical research that could reveal answers to this heartbreaking disease.

I’m not a research scientist, so I’m not going to try to explain the details, but it’s not just Alzheimer’s. Research into Down syndrome also can help unlock what causes things like cancer, celiac disease and Type 1 diabetes. There are 300,000 individuals in the United States living with Down syndrome today. There are millions living with those illnesses.

An extra dollar for Down syndrome research will pack a two-for-one, or even three-, or four-, or five-to-one punch if it helps crack the code to other medical mysteries.

If for no other reason than that, I hope we rememberthat we are America, not Iceland or Denmark. Our goal should be Alzheimer’s free, not Downsyndrome free.