RECENT POLL SHOWS AMERICANS SUPPORT DOWN SYNDROME RESEARCH!

An excerpt from the Global Down Syndrome Foundation:

The recent telephone survey of 810 Americans, conducted by Kupersmit Research on behalf of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, found strong backing for government programs that provide education and training for people with Down syndrome, support for their families, and research into the condition. 

The poll demonstrates a disconnect between funding for people with Down syndrome, which has lagged over the last decade, and the widespread support for spending on the condition. "I am encouraged to learn from this poll that so many Americans join us as advocates of the Down syndrome community," says U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions (R-TX), who co-chairs the Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus. "With additional funding and research, we can continue to build on our quest to provide the resources individuals with Down syndrome need to achieve and reach their maximum potential.”

Down syndrome is the most frequent chromosomal disorder representing an estimated 400,000 Americans.  However, federal research funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for people with Down syndrome was a mere $22 million in 2010, representing 0.0007 of NIH’s annual $31 billion budget. Despite its frequency, Down syndrome research funding has dramatically shrunk, as a percentage of the total NIH budget since 2000. In some years Down syndrome had the largest decrease in funding of any single condition at the NIH.  

Read the entire here

Poll highlights click here.