This is a delightful story from my sisters’ high school alma mater about a young man with Down syndrome who is carrying on the tradition of a school legend:

Giving The H from Tom Martin on Vimeo.

I think my favorite part of this story is the very beginning:

By medical definition, Elijah Mayfield–compared to his peers–is alone.
…
The reason he attends Helias High School is because he wasn’t.

“St. Peter’s, the Catholic school uptown. He was the 21st person in this classroom. And as those kids matured, they came around full circle and just embraced him,” said Todd Mayfield, Elijah’s father. “We had always asked at St. Peter’s, okay, not being Catholic, what’s next? What happens after 8th grade? And from day one, they told us, you know, more than likely, the public schools is your best option, because Helias doesn’t have a program. This group of kids, they said ‘we’ll write letters to Helias.’ They felt very strongly and they wanted him to be with them.”

The medical community could learn a lot from these 8th graders. Children with Down syndrome should be embraced and we should fight for their inclusion in society, not try to snuff them out of existence. Parents who receive a prenatal diagnosis positive for Down syndrome should be told how much their unborn child will enrich their lives and the lives of those around them instead of perpetuating the myth that these children live lives of unspeakable suffering and are a drain on family life.