Happy National Down syndrome Awareness Week!

The 31 for 21 and Down syndrome Awareness Month may be over, but here in Canada, National Down syndrome Awareness week has just begun.

With the 31 for 21, we promote awareness and advocate for those with Down syndrome.  This week is about celebrating with people with DS and how they contribute to our everyday lives.

My son is a little small for self advocacy yet, but he constantly inspires me to want to learn more. 

	Medical Mondays			Teaching Tuesdays
1	Welcome to the 31 for 21		2	ABHDS #4 - Roots of Institutionalization and Eugenics
8	Thyroid Disorders and DS		9	Signing and Language Development in DS
15	The Brain #1 - How the Brain Works		16	Learning and Down syndrome
22	The Brain #2 - The Brain and Trisomy 21		23	ABHDS #5 - From Education to Eugenics
29	The Brain #3 - DS, Alzheimers and a Very Special Mouse		30	ABHDS #6 - From Eugenics to Extermination
	Wyatt & Zoe/Wordless Wednesdays			Therapy Thursdays
3	The Joys of Noise and Mess		4	To Sip or Not to Sip
10	Wordless Wednesday		11	All About the Crawl
17	Angels		18	Speech and Language #1
24	Autumn Babies		25	Speech and Language #2 - Early Intervention
31	In the News
	Factoid Fridays			Storytime Saturdays
5	Fast Facts on DS (Revisited)		6	Telling Their Stories
12	We Want Respect		13	More Birth Stories
19	Special Needs Bullying		20	A Little Longer and a Little Different
26	DSM - "Mental Retardation" No Longer Acceptable		27	"Retarded"
	Family Day/Silent Sundays
7	DS, Coping and Caregiver Stress
14	Care and Feeding of the "Special Needs" Parent
21	He Ain't Heavy...
28	Little Monsters

This year's campaign features Nicholas Popowich, a self advocate from Regina, Saskatchewan.  If you would like to know more about Nicholas or the National Down Syndrome Awareness Week, you can contact the Canadian Down syndrome Society.

Happy National Down syndrome Awareness Week 2012.  This week we "recognize and celebrate the contributions made by people with Down syndrome, like Nicholas, everyday in our schools, communities, workplaces and families." (CDSS, 2012)