History:
- Before it was officially discovered and recognized as a disorder, children with down syndrome were often seen as weaker and abandoned.
- In 1866 John Langdon Down, for who the syndrome named after, first described Down syndrome, as “Mongolism.”
- In 1959, Jerome Legjeune discovered that down syndrome was caused by an extra chromosome.
- The National Association for Down Syndrome (NADS) was founded in Chicago in 1960 by Kay McGee.
- In the sixties to early seventies, the condition was known as “Mongolism,” and the original name of the organization was Mongoloid Development Council.
- Proper treatment for down syndrome didn't fully begin until the 1970's.