World Down Syndrome Day

World Down Syndrome Day is tomorrow, March 21, a day selected to signify the unique trisomy of the 21st chromosome that causes Down Syndrome.

The Center of Disease Control and Prevention describes Down syndrome as a condition in which the person has an extra chromosome.

According to the CDC, chromosomes are small packages of genes in the body that determine how a baby’s body forms and functions as it grows during pregnancy and after birth.

Typically, a baby is born with 46 chromosomes, but babies with Down syndrome has an extra chromosome.

The medical term for having an extra chromosome is Trisomy 21, which occurs in 95% of babies born with Down Syndrome.

The extra chromosome can affect how the individual’s brain and body develops.

Those born with Down syndrome will usually have lower measure of intelligence (IQ) that is mildly to moderately low range and are slower to speak than other children.

However, people diagnosed with Down syndrome will have happy and healthy lives with supportive care.

The CDC reports that Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal condition diagnosed in the United States with around 6,000 babies born who have Down syndrome. That calculates to about 1 in 700 babies born each year in the U.S. with the condition.

Currently it is reported that over 450,000 individuals with Down syndrome reside in the country and along with parents and siblings impacted by the condition, amounts to over two million who face this diagnosis daily.

World Down Syndrome Day:

On December 2011, the UN General Assembly declared the 21st day of the third month as World Down Syndrome Day.

Since that time on each March 21 the day is meant to raise public interest of Down syndrome.

One of the ways to support and create awareness of Down syndrome on March 21 is people wearing unique, mismatched, and colorful socks.

The idea was created because chromosomes are shaped like socks and people with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome.

People all over the world wear those kind of socks on WDSD to get noticed.

These types of socks usually have three colors and the 3/21 represents both World Down Syndrome Day (March 21) and the extra chromosome that people with Down syndrome carry.

The official colors of Down syndrome are blue and yellow and some show support by wearing clothing, accessories, or ribbons throughout the month of March.