ENG-111
24 August 2013
I Believe in Acceptance
As a child, I always saw my sister as a normal person. We played, and laughed. She was only a year older than me. She was not only my sister; but she was my playmate, my partner in crime, and most importantly my best friend. However, I was too young to know just how special she was.
When I started elementary school, I started to notice how different my sister was. She didn’t look like the other kids, and she didn’t act like the other kids. I would see her from time to time within the hallways of our small elementary school. Her class was small, and the kids looked and acted different than everyone else. This is when I became curious to why my sister was different.
My sister has Down’s syndrome, which is a congenital disorder arising from a chromosome defect, causing intellectual impairment and physical abnormalities. Once I was in middle school I learned about Down’s syndrome. I learned about its effects, and why people are born with this disorder. Down syndrome is a genetic condition in which a person has 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46. According to the National Down’s Syndrome Society, one in every 691 babies born in the United States are born with Down’s syndrome.
There never was a time in my life where I have disowned my sister, or was embarrassed to be with her in public. Instead of being mad at God for her disability, I embraced it. I helped my mother out when she needed me, and I