For generations, parents of children with Down syndrome (DS) were told not to get their hopes up.
Doctors and “experts” painted grim pictures of what life would look like for a child born with an extra chromosome. They said our children wouldn’t learn. Wouldn’t walk. Wouldn’t talk. Wouldn’t contribute. Families were told that the best—and sometimes the only—option was to institutionalize them, or worse, to never give them a chance at all.
Unsurprisingly, the medical community got it wrong.
They classified DS as a “birth defect.” They saw a diagnosis instead of a person. They focused on deficits instead of potential. And in doing so, they robbed countless families of the joy of knowing who their children could become.
Once written off as drains on society—children only the rich could afford—people with DS are graduating from high school and college, are gainfully employed, are excelling in careers, are competing in sports, are getting married, are living full lives, and are contributing meaningfully to their communities and families by their very presence. They are proof that the human spirit cannot be defined by a chromosome count.
But even now, that same medical culture continues to perpetuate the old lie—one that begins before birth. Across the globe, and even here at home, families are pressured to “make a different choice” when a baby in utero is thought to have DS. Abortion rates in the United States for children “diagnosed” prenatally with DS exceed 70 percent. And that number continues to rise, not decline. We’re told that “quality of life” justifies ending one. But that’s not compassion—that’s convenience, utilitarianism, and eugenics dressed up as “mercy.”
The same medical community treating children with DS, prescribing therapies, and qualifying their capabilities after birth, largely believes that it’s OK to terminate children with DS before birth. But are we, as parents, to believe that they have our children’s best interests at heart?
The concept defies logic and is exactly why we need to build a medical advocacy program grounded in principle, sound medicine, and a respect for personhood.
My wife and I founded Team Iron Will—a nonprofit dedicated to championing possibility for individuals with DS through advocacy, opportunity, and community impact—because we hope to rewrite the story—to change the narrative around DS. Our mission is simple but profound: to champion the intrinsic value of people with DS—from the moment of creation onward. We help children and families access therapies, tools, and opportunities that unlock potential—not limit it. We stand shoulder to shoulder with parents who choose life, hope, and courage over fear. We strive to educate and inform the medical community and society at large.
We champion possibility.
We’re not naive about the challenges. Children with DS often face real medical and developmental hurdles. But they don’t need pity—they just want a chance. Society should see them as intrinsically valuable for who they are—people created by God for a purpose—and, when surrounded by love, they transcend the limitations placed upon them by a culture that has underestimated their potential and value.
The truth is, the “experts” have been wrong before—and they’re still wrong when they measure worth by ability, productivity, or conformity. The children they once dismissed prove every day that joy, determination, and love are stronger than statistics.
It’s time we stop listening to the voices that say “they can’t” and start championing possibility by providing parents hope and whatever resources they need to help their children fulfill God’s plan for their lives.
Every person with DS deserves a chance to show the world what’s possible. Every parent deserves support, not opposition. And every community should rally around these individuals, not as objects of sympathy, but as powerful reminders of what it means to be fully human.