March 21st is World Down Syndrome Day - the date being chosen to reflect the fact people with DS have a 3rd chromosome attached to their 21st pair (we all have 46 chromosomes, coupled into 23 pairs, but people with DS have that triplet, meaning they have 47 chromosomes in total). For this reason, DS is also sometimes known as Trisomy 21.
So with the figures 3 and 21 being highly significant (and no month contains 47 days), 21st March seems like a good date to raise awareness of Down's Syndrome.
Depending on how long you have been visiting this site, or how much you've been poking about, or how good your memory is, you might, or might not, know my daughter, Meg, has Down's Syndrome.
Click on the "Down's Syndrome" label on the sidebar, under the Find Your Favourite Topics section if you would like to read any of my writings concerned with DS. Alternatively, check out the links under the "With a dash of something extra..." where you will find a lot of excellent blogs written by parents of children with DS.
I can't think of anything new to add that hasn't been covered in those previous posts, but if anyone has any questions, I'm more than happy to give answers and help educate people past society's misconceptions and prejudices.
Meanwhile, I thought I'd post a triplet of photos of Meg, each with a different treatment. The first is in colour, the 2nd in black and white, and the third has a sepia tint to it. All of them go to larger versions if you click on them