A different look on life

For the past year I've been part of a small group working on a project for the Down syndrome community to more accurately portray the capabilities of children and adults living with Down syndrome. By and large, the medical community views Down syndrome as a 'negative outcome' that can be avoided and, for the most part, one that is. Estimates put the U.S. abortion rate around 90%. Birth avoidance by some affects society's outlook on those who do live. For my son Andy's sake, a more accurate depiction than 'negative' needs to be shown.

I have observed in general, photographs of people with Down syndrome go one of two ways: either they are amateur shots of smiling kids' faces or they are professional shots of kids' faces. We set out to show more accurate images: kids and adults in their own element, and thriving.

We created some games for the kids so we could get them in a group every so often, but none of the pictures shown are fabricated or overtly staged. We had the kids and adults doing what they naturally do, with their own group of friends; we arranged our schedule around theirs and went to their locations. To this end, all environments, bikes, books, hills, and so forth are real. The peers are their regular peers that attend church, school, ballet, and so forth every week. Interactions between peers are genuine. Here is a sample of what we captured.