What about marriage of people with Down syndrome?

And how will their lives be in their home? And how long will their marriage last?

should we support their marriage or avoid it?

It is believed by many that all people with Down syndrome are short-lived and that all of them are  incompetent for marriage, but we knew in previous articles that when people with Down syndrome reach puberty they live like the rest of humans, with all the changes and desires that happen in such stage of life. They also feel sexual desire but they do not know how to express it. The chance of their successful marriage depends on many factors, including their degree of intelligence as it varies from one person to another.

The fact remains that people with Down syndrome can lead normal lives if they are provided with parental care, support and medical guidance, together with the support systems provided by society such as private schools that enable them to participate in the community and empower them to fulfill themselves.

Today, we will learn about a story of a couple with Down syndrome that lasted more than a quarter of a century, as reported by the British Metro newspaper. The story (Gareth, 55, and Diana, 57), who challenged the old beliefs, and their marriage lasted for 27 years.

The story of the longest marriage of people with Down syndrome (published on Tuesday, October 8, 2019)

27 years ago, Gareth and Diana, both have Down syndrome, got married; and Gareth was only 17 when he first met Diana who was 19 years old then at a local entertainment center in Cumbria, in 1981. Although Gareth had 3 female friends, he liked Diana and started a love story with her that reached marriage on July 4, 1992.

“I chose the right one and it’s Diana, it was love at first sight,” says Gareth, who works three days a week at Morrisons – Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket chain.

Years passed since Gareth and Diana’s friendship and relationship developed, and their love increased year after year, until 10 years passed and they decided to get married, which raised the eyebrows of the parents, but they did not realize how serious the matter was. Gareth’s mother, Ann Tobias, “80 years old, says: We knew a lot about their relationship when they started talking about marriage!”

Before Gareth and Diana’s story, an American couple Paul and Chris Sharon DeVorge from New York had the longest-running marriage of people with Down syndrome, but their 25-year marriage ended with Paul’s death last year, after a long battle with early-onset Alzheimer’s.