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My name is Nancy Schroeder and my husband Lucas and I are proud parents to Adele (5), Ian (3), and Xavier (5 months).
Shortly after Ian was born, we received his diagnosis of Down syndrome. I often describe that experience as a pendulum: We swung from feeling pretty smug about how wonderful our world was to another extreme — worrying about Ian’s health and needlessly worrying about our finances and Ian’s limited future. Fortunately, neither Lucas nor I ever questioned the immense love we had for Ian, and from that place of love and with a little bit of education and perspective, our pendulum quickly swung right back to where it had been. We love our life and the future is very bright. What’s more, we have a happy, hilarious, capable, adorable second child to add to our list of blessings.
My wish for people who are unfamiliar with Down syndrome is that they see Ian as a kid like any other: with challenges and potential alike, and with so much worth. He is much more similar to his siblings than he is different from them. And like our expectations for Ian’s siblings, our expectations for Ian are sky high. We expect him to value education and go to college.
I love what Ruby’s Rainbow is doing, not only in spreading awareness about Down syndrome and supporting young adults with Down syndrome, but in building a growing list of hardworking and capable role models whom Adele, Ian, and Xavier can look up to.