October is Down syndrome awareness month
EDMESTON – Pathfinder Village is the only residential community devoted completely to aiding those with Down syndrome in the United States and the organization, along with other mental health advocates, is drawing the public’s attention to October as National Down Syndrome Awareness Month.
“As it also happens to be National Disability Employment Awareness month too, and one really has a lot to do with the other,” said Pathfinder’s CEO, Paul C. Landers.
Landers said a key component in coping with a Down Syndrome disability is being able to socially integrate in the community and allowing residents to interact with other people. A big part of that development at Pathfinder has included countless community events and more than one third of their residents having regular jobs at local businesses.
“What the public should understand is the degree of progress we’ve made over the years in understanding the disability,” said Landers. To demonstrate the medical gains in the field, he explained that in 1989 the average life expectancy for a person with Down Syndrome was 29 years; today it is 60.
“Enhanced life expectancy and what we’re doing with that life is just as important,” said Landers.
Beside having a population that is about 5 to 10 percent above the national average of employed Down syndrome residents, Landers also said that beginning soon, the administration would be looking to take its residents’ autonomy even further by allowing them to own and operate their own businesses in and outside of the monitored community.
Unlike much of central New York’s disability housing, which assigns apartment homes to Down syndrome residents, Pathfinder has a dorm type setting that creates an atmosphere of a much more interactive community.
“We live in a world that’s changing faster than it ever has before and to try and enter it with a disability can be very difficult. In apartment housing, some hardly ever leave the four walls of their room, but here we have a community of similar lifestyles,” he said.
Landers said many people with Down syndrome feel more at ease around others sharing their disability.
Pathfinder Village, located along State Route 80 about two miles east of downtown Edmeston, is a privately funded non-profit organization that provides around the clock treatment and education for 80 residents, all of whom live with Down syndrome. The community has several homes set up in a dorm-like setting with some buildings capable of providing more elaborate or specific types of care than others.
The site is complete with a fully staffed school that meets the special needs of the village’s adolescent residents.
The village is licensed New York State and is regulated by the State Department of Education, Health, and the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
Earlier this year, Landers returned as Pathfinder’s CEO after having held the position from 2001 to 2003.
Landers has worked in the developmental disabilities field for more than 25 years and has a master’s degree in education.
Pathfinder Village in its current location was founded in 1980, following a long history in the local area of disability care facilities that helped lead to its creation.
It is estimated that there are more than 400,000 people living with Down syndrome in the United States. One in every 733 babies is born with Down syndrome. Down syndrome occurs during pre-natal cell division and results most-typically in three copies of the 21st chromosome. All people with Down syndrome experience mild to moderate cognitive delays and recent research has suggested that about 95 percent of those diagnosed with the disability share the same genetic markers that are found in people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The connection is still a medical mystery.
To mark national awareness month, Pathfinder Village will offer guided tours of its campus on Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., and on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 3 to 5 p.m. All tours begin at the Village’s outreach and education facility, the Kennedy-Willis Center on Down Syndrome. To make tour reservations, call 965-8377, extension 101.
“As it also happens to be National Disability Employment Awareness month too, and one really has a lot to do with the other,” said Pathfinder’s CEO, Paul C. Landers.
Landers said a key component in coping with a Down Syndrome disability is being able to socially integrate in the community and allowing residents to interact with other people. A big part of that development at Pathfinder has included countless community events and more than one third of their residents having regular jobs at local businesses.
“What the public should understand is the degree of progress we’ve made over the years in understanding the disability,” said Landers. To demonstrate the medical gains in the field, he explained that in 1989 the average life expectancy for a person with Down Syndrome was 29 years; today it is 60.
“Enhanced life expectancy and what we’re doing with that life is just as important,” said Landers.
Beside having a population that is about 5 to 10 percent above the national average of employed Down syndrome residents, Landers also said that beginning soon, the administration would be looking to take its residents’ autonomy even further by allowing them to own and operate their own businesses in and outside of the monitored community.
Unlike much of central New York’s disability housing, which assigns apartment homes to Down syndrome residents, Pathfinder has a dorm type setting that creates an atmosphere of a much more interactive community.
“We live in a world that’s changing faster than it ever has before and to try and enter it with a disability can be very difficult. In apartment housing, some hardly ever leave the four walls of their room, but here we have a community of similar lifestyles,” he said.
Landers said many people with Down syndrome feel more at ease around others sharing their disability.
Pathfinder Village, located along State Route 80 about two miles east of downtown Edmeston, is a privately funded non-profit organization that provides around the clock treatment and education for 80 residents, all of whom live with Down syndrome. The community has several homes set up in a dorm-like setting with some buildings capable of providing more elaborate or specific types of care than others.
The site is complete with a fully staffed school that meets the special needs of the village’s adolescent residents.
The village is licensed New York State and is regulated by the State Department of Education, Health, and the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.
Earlier this year, Landers returned as Pathfinder’s CEO after having held the position from 2001 to 2003.
Landers has worked in the developmental disabilities field for more than 25 years and has a master’s degree in education.
Pathfinder Village in its current location was founded in 1980, following a long history in the local area of disability care facilities that helped lead to its creation.
It is estimated that there are more than 400,000 people living with Down syndrome in the United States. One in every 733 babies is born with Down syndrome. Down syndrome occurs during pre-natal cell division and results most-typically in three copies of the 21st chromosome. All people with Down syndrome experience mild to moderate cognitive delays and recent research has suggested that about 95 percent of those diagnosed with the disability share the same genetic markers that are found in people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The connection is still a medical mystery.
To mark national awareness month, Pathfinder Village will offer guided tours of its campus on Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., and on Sunday, Oct. 25, from 3 to 5 p.m. All tours begin at the Village’s outreach and education facility, the Kennedy-Willis Center on Down Syndrome. To make tour reservations, call 965-8377, extension 101.
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