Social life of people with Down syndrome

Dear reader

You will find in the coming articles important questions about social life of people with Down syndrome; and we are always pleased to receive your questions and answer them. The most important thing that concerns parents is marriage and reproduction of people with Down syndrome.

Parents of children with Down syndrome when their children approach puberty, naturally wonder about the fate of their children in this critical period. They wonder whether they will have normal feelings like others about the opposite gender or not, their fertility and their ability to reproduce naturally? Or their babies will carry the same characteristics of Down syndrome? And many other questions.

First, what about the period of puberty, growth and sexual development of people with Down syndrome and the role of parents in educating children?

 The child with Down syndrome passes puberty such as any natural child, with the appearance of the same physical, hormonal and emotional changes.

Sexual growth and desires of people with Down syndrome is not different from normal people, but of course there are individual differences as in natural persons. There is often a delay in social maturity, inability to control emotional expression and social communication, and mental abilities to solve problems in people with Down syndrome.

parents should follow up the changes of their child with D.S with the competent doctor; however, we advice parents to read about every stage of their children’s development before starting them from reliable sources as a preparation for each of them, and to understand the correct interpretations on natural developments for each stage, especially puberty and its accompanying physical, hormonal, and emotional changes.

It is very important to talk to your son or your daughter with Down syndrome about these changes, and not get surprised when they tell you about feelings of love, or attraction to the opposite sex. They are like natural persons who pass through these feelings. You should answer their questions about whether they can get married and reproduced. You should embrace them and listen to them, and discuss righteousness, mistake, harvesting, prohibited, and allowed actions with them. Sound sexual awareness must also be provided via specialists and health care providers of Down syndrome.

In the past, people thought that individuals with mental disabilities can not learn to express their sexual lives in satisfactory ways at the personal level, however for the past decade, there have been significant changes in society’s views on people with mental disabilities and their social, and sexual rights.

The appropriate sexual education for people with Down syndrome adds to the development of their lives through the practice of proper sexual activity, in the right framework: marriage. In addition, such education helps reduce the risk of sexual abuse, avoid sexual misunderstanding, prevent transmission of sexual diseases and unwanted pregnancies, and reduce sexual and emotional problems which people with Down syndrome suffer from.