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IF YOU’VE SEEN people showing off their odd socks on social media or in the office today, you might be wondering what’s happening.
The socks are to mark World Down Syndrome Day today, for the reason that they look a bit like chromosomes, and people with Down syndrome have an extra chromosome (making 47 altogether).
While people across Ireland and the UK have been showing off their odd socks (usually matched with a donation to a Down syndrome support organisation), a number of organisations have launched new information campaigns to help parents.
Down Syndrome Ireland is launching a new booklet today, called ‘…more than medical’, which is intended to be a resource for parents with a pre- or postnatal diagnosis of Down syndrome for their baby.
It has also launched a video for new parents, called ‘Having a child with Down syndrome’. On Sunday 24 March, it will hold its fourth annual Purple Run, which is held to raise funds for DSI.
There are about 7,000 people in Ireland with Down syndrome, and DSI works with about 3,500 of them. DSI says that children with Down syndrome can have increased risk of certain health issues, such as congenital heart defects and hearing, vision, thyroid and respiratory problems.
As the life expectancy of people with Down syndrome is increasing, it’s hugely important that the living and learning needs of people who have Down syndrome are supported, says DSI.
Along with this, ideas and attitudes about living with Down syndrome have changed, with the outdated beliefs around the capabilities of people with Down syndrome changing in recent decades.
With that in mind, The Down Syndrome Centre has a new campaign for today called I Could Be, which it says is “about supporting a brighter future for people with Down syndrome”.
Images of 18 children with Down Syndrome will be displayed around Dublin city centre today, each with the #ICouldBe message on it. The messages range from ‘I could be a TV presenter’ to ‘I could be a model’ to ‘I could be an artist’. It’s all about challenging the perceptions that people might have around what that one extra chromosome means:
The campaign aims to promote the message that while people with Down syndrome need additional supports, they have innate potential, skills, talents and unique perspectives to bring to society and to a chosen profession.
‘I Could Be’ is about supporting career opportunities for people with Down syndrome and opportunities to develop and progress in life.
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A bit of competition is good once it’s honest and there’s no jolleys, stroking, brown envelopes or trips to the red light district
Don’t care who builds it, once the ultimate cost is what was agreed at the start and it represents best value for money and can actually do everything that we need in an MRV.
@Peter: absolutely correct. The bigger ptoblen is managing to crew these ships given the pathetic funding of the navy and the army
. dont care who builds it but no the UK, when your out, your out.
@Spud Geshletter: let’s hope they don’t have the same stupid attitude as you, we will be broke overnight.
@Tipper Irie: How do you like a freezing cold and dark winter? 75% of our gas comes from Scotland!
@Tipper Irie: please explain??
@Spud Geshletter: …but they’re Scots not English.
This is gona be an interesting one. The Brits will probably bend over backwards for these kind of contracts now to prove Brexit works. Might mean a better price, but there will be a lot of pressure on the government from EU partners to not go with the Brits for this. Especially a defence contract. I’m sure there are plenty of other shipyards around Europe that could also build the ship. I wonder will the EU intervene to make sure that EU defense spending stays as much as possible within the EU. Which will be tough seen as the Brits have such a massive arms industry.
@bazhealy: We should source the ships with the EU Single Market and as Northern Ireland is still in the EU Single Market we should source the ships in Harland and Wolf in Belfast.
@Roger Bond: You’d be lucky to get a barge out of H&W.
@Roger Bond: hm no…
@Billybutcher: hm maybe, although it has been used recently mainly for service I read on 25/11 that H&W has been appointed as the prefered bidder to deliver three crucial support ships to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Who will staff it?? The Naval service is on it’s knees.
@Richard Griffin: We can recruit naval personnel from other countries like the Philippines or China.
@Roger Bond: Do people actually think we can do that?
And its also past time Ireland grew up and provided its own proper air defences and stop running to the RAF everytime an incident accurs because we dont have the capability,without a comprehensive radar tracking system anyone can invade our airspace at will and we have to depend on the Brits for information whats happening in our own country,the excuse usually given is because we are neutral sounds demeaning and ridiculous because we can even defend our own neutrality.
@Richard Mccarthy: I’m sure that there is a bit of back scratching going on with that arrangement.
Didn’t know the UK had any shipyards left.
@Ken Miles: they,’ve got s few ,who do you think built the new aircraft carriers?
@Ken Miles: You obvously are misinformed who do you think built the latest Ships for the Irish navy,yep the Brits did only problem now we can’t get the personel to crew them.
@Ken Miles: there is a famous ship yard only up the road in Belfast
@Kevin Carroll: Excellent point. At least we would keep the money on the island.
@Kevin Carroll: Yes there is. Tyneside shipyards closed to keep Belfast in work.
@Ken Miles: There is one just up the road in Belfast and it would be a kind gesture to get the ships built there like before.
As a member of the EU all contracts should be given to eu countries not a country outside eu
They’ve probably wat he’d the childrens hospital and locked their lips at the clown show.
Candy off a baby..
That’s easy then, Trieste in Italy it is, the only EU one of the top 10 largest shipbuilding companies, coming in @ #9.
We should be looking further afield for contracts like this..The best value for money can be found in China or South Korea..
@Roger Bond: Correctamundo, Asia all the way, I’d include Japan on that list.
have your say