| Dr. John Langdon Down, born in 1828 and died in | | | | syndrome. For my research, I distributed twenty |
| 1896, was the medical superintendent of the Royal | | | | open-ended questionnaires to ten males and ten |
| Earlswood Asylum for Idiots in London. He studied | | | | females of an all Caucasian population. The total |
| what he termed Mongolian idiocy which was based | | | | population had ages ranging from twenty years to |
| on the measurements of the head and palate. This | | | | sixty years. Approximately one-third of the population |
| became a racial stereotype in that Asian descendants | | | | studied came from Peoria, Illinois. Close to one-third |
| were called Mongoloids, but they are not directly | | | | of the population resided in cities south of Peoria, |
| related to Mongolian idiocy, now termed Down | | | | Illinois and roughly another third of the population I |
| syndrome or Trisomy 21 (Ward, 2004).More than six | | | | chose lived just north of Peoria, Illinois. The majority |
| thousand babies with Down syndrome are born in the | | | | of my subjects had some college education, while a |
| United States each year. Down syndrome occurs in all | | | | portion had a high school diploma and a few had a |
| races, ethnic groups, socioeconomic classes, and | | | | college degree. Annual household incomes ranged |
| nationalities. Genetics play a major role in Down | | | | from zero to twenty-five thousand dollars to more |
| syndrome. A person without Down syndrome has | | | | than sixty-five thousand dollars with the majority |
| forty-six chromosomes, while a person with Down | | | | earning over sixty-five thousands dollars a year. Of |
| syndrome has forty-seven. This results from cell | | | | the twenty subjects, there were various religions |
| division, which is how the chromosomes divide | | | | reported, such as Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, |
| between the sperm and egg, usually twenty-three | | | | and Lutheran, nondenominational Christian. I did not |
| for each. Down syndrome is determined by looking at | | | | find any correlations between the residence, |
| a karyotype or a picture of chromosomes after cell | | | | education, income, or religion of my subjects and |
| division is complete. Chromosomes can be taken | | | | Down Syndrome. Over half of the subjects studied |
| through amniotic fluid, usually done by an | | | | knew one or more persons with Sown syndrome, |
| amniocentesis. Down syndrome is characterized by | | | | while seven said they did not know anyone with |
| looking at the twenty-first chromosome which has | | | | Down syndrome.I did discover that the majority of |
| three chromosomes instead of two, thus called | | | | females tend to be more passive and positive about |
| Trisomy 21 (Stray-Gundersen, 1995). Persons with | | | | Down syndrome, whereas most of the males had |
| Down syndrome have many different physical | | | | more realistically, yet negative comments related to |
| characteristics, such as low muscle tone, small facial | | | | Down syndrome. Age did play a factor in my |
| features, a protruding tongue, smaller head | | | | research in that the subjects, age twenty to |
| circumference, short stature, and small, webbed | | | | forty-five, have less knowledge about Down |
| hands and feet.My research is based on the | | | | syndrome. Eleven people said that the maternal age |
| social-conflict theory because society fears what | | | | of a newborn with Down syndrome is over |
| they do not understand, therefore, conflict arises | | | | thirty-five years. I found that the more personal |
| within the socialization of a person with Down | | | | experience an individual has with Down syndrome, |
| syndrome. My hypothesis is that society has a | | | | the more knowledge they have about this defect. |
| negative perspective of individuals with Down | | | | |