When Cathleen Small gave birth to her son, Sam, in 2012, she didn’t know where to turn. She didn’t know anything about Down syndrome or anyone who did. She searched the internet and quickly found the Down Syndrome Connection of the Bay Area. Cathleen attended her first support meeting at DSCBA when Sam was three weeks old and remembers, “that was the first moment I felt that everything was going to be okay…that Down syndrome wasn’t going to rule our lives.”
Cathleen and Sam began attending the Early Connections support groups right away and Cathleen looked forward to connecting with fellow parents each month. Now age seven, Sam has completed two summers in DSCBA’s Communication Readiness Program and attends weekly peer development classes at the DSCBA. The whole family goes to events such as the annual Step Up Walk and Holiday Party.
Cathleen became DSCBA’s Medical Outreach Alliance Director in 2015, citing her own less than positive experience with Sam’s diagnosis as part of her motivation, and learning that other parents had similar experiences. She now helps support parents and the medical community with compassion, information, and resources. “I believe so strongly in the services DSCBA offers that I want to help connect new parents with them.”
The DSCBA began in 1998, when two mothers of children with Down syndrome recognized a need in the Bay Area; there was no organization to serve and support their children. In the two decades since, the small group those mothers formed has grown into the go-to resource in the Bay Area for information and support for people with Down syndrome and their families.
The DSCBA now serves more than 1,000 families; its mission is to empower, inspire, and support people with Down syndrome, their families, and the community that serves them, while fostering awareness and acceptance in all areas of life. To fulfill that mission, DSCBA offers numerous programs, including Peer Development classes (ages five to adult), music therapy classes (infants to age twelve), and the Communication Readiness Program, an intensive communication and literacy-based summer prep program for children ages four to seven, their parents, and their educational team.
The DSCBA’s Down Syndrome Education Alliance works with more than forty Bay Area school districts and has reached more than 2,000 educators through training, workshops, and educational team support. And the Medical Outreach Alliance has established relationships with thirty-four Bay Area hospitals and thousands of medical professionals in the Bay Area, providing up-to-date information and trainings about Down syndrome and how to compassionately deliver a diagnosis to new families.
All of the DSCBA’s programs are made possible by grants and by generous donations from the community. Our Gala is our biggest fundraising event of the year, and we look forward to welcoming members of the community to share a magical evening with us as we raise funds to support our amazing members!
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