My visit to Down Syndrome Association of Nigeria (part 2)

Tuesday October 6th

My next official engagement was a presentation at the Awareness Seminar which took place at the local hearing impaired school.

When we first arrived the hall was practically empty, but gradually it started to fill up, particularly when the children from the Down Syndrome centre and the Hearing Impaired School arrived.  At first they were all seated in the middle, but before we got started, our MC for the day Chuks asked all the adults to take one of the children to sit with them.


There was a lovely moment when one man led a young lady with Down Syndrome to sit with him and then turned round to find there were two sat beside him - he hadn't realised that they were twins and there was lots of laughter about him getting two for the price of one.  

Then it was time to begin my presentation which was about some of the medical issues our young people can face and the importance of identifying  and treating these in order to ensure they can be as healthy as possible.  I highlighted what some people with Down Syndrome can achieve with good health care and given suitable opportunities, using  Sujeet Desai, Dylan Kuehl and Karen Gaffney as examples.

We were also treated to a dance performance by some of the pupils from the Down Syndrome School.

All together it was a very successful event and again there was lots of media coverage.


More in part 3 to follow soon