The authorities are requested to encourage the employers to hire persons with the Down Syndrome. Such an act will make these persons feel that they are not useless, that society needs them, said Ala Burlaca, the mother of a child with the Down Syndrome who heads the public association “SUNSHINE”.
In a news conference at IPN, Ala Burlaca said the persons with the Down Syndrome are employed everywhere in the world. In Moldova, this is not done even if these persons are very responsible and can reach the qualifications needed to work.
Elena Ceban, the mother of a child with the Down Syndrome, said this diagnosis should not scare the families, the community. This is not an infectious disease, but is a congenital malformation that is not transmitted from person to person. The labels put by the people on these persons are not justified.
The association “SUNSHINE” carries out campaigns to inform and raise the awareness of society. “The children with this syndrome are like the other children: they can dance, have caprices, tastes, character, good and bad moods and ask for love, as any other child,” said the woman, calling on the people to treat the persons with the Down Syndrome as ordinary persons and to guide them, if necessary. They should not be mean or indifferent. The parents of children with such a syndrome need support from the authorities so that they could work and could simultaneously look after these children.
The project “I have Down Syndrome! I have the right to life!” is implemented by the public association of persons with the Down Syndrome “SUNSHINE” with support from East Europe Foundation and is financed by the Embassy of Sweden. To help the parents accept the diagnosis of their child and cope further, there was devised a guidebook that was already distributed to the maternity hospitals of the municipality of Chisinau. In the framework of the project, the parents benefitted from psychological and informational support and were informed about their rights and the steps they need to take in difficult moments.
