DEBUNKING STEREOTYPES
STEREOTYPE: People with Down syndrome are mentally retarded and cannot learn.
As always with stereotypes, this belief is a misconception.
Agreeably, individuals living with this condition are cognitively challenged and slow in learning in comparison with their neurotypical peers. We must realize that learning in itself has a broad definition. Learning is beyond academics. Sports, Arts, photography, and theatre are a few creative ways in which learning has expression. It would be a grave error to generalize that people with DS are mentally retarded or cannot learn.
FACT: PEOPLE WITH DOWN SYNDROME ARE NOT MENTALLY RETARDED. THEY LEARN AT A SLOWER RATE THAN THEIR PEERS AND ARE EXCELLING IN MANY FIELDS OF LEARNING, VOCATION AND CRAFT.