Recipient Charity

2018  “Art Your Compassion” Charity Program

Introduction of Down Syndrome Foundation R.O.C.

In Taiwan, the incidence of Down Syndrome (DS) is one out of every 1,263 live births. Most cases of Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, occurs when a baby has an extra copy of chromosome 21 in some or all of his cells. The extra copy of genes on chromosome 21 disrupts the course of normal development, causing characteristic physical features, intellectual disability, and increased risks of health problems. For example, children with DS may show flattened face, small head, short neck, and short height. They also tend to have congenital malformations, such as heart defects, growth delays, hypalgesia and epilepsy.

With the need to improve services for children with DS and provide a platform for DS caretakers to share social and educational information, the DS families organized the Down Syndrome Association, R.O.C. in 1988. To draw more input from the society in general and the professionals in specific, the Down Syndrome Foundation was established in 1997. In the past 20 years, the Foundation has being reaching out to those in need with programs of early intervention, public care, self-care training, community-based day care centers, career coaching and other professional services. The establishment of the bakery brand, ABRAZO, that the Foundation has worked out to provide opportunities of job training and employment for the people with DS is one of the many examples.

Acknowledging its efforts and contributions, we select Down Syndrome Foundation as the recipient of A.R.T.’s Art Your Compassion 2018 Charity Program. With this selection, we wish to raise the society’s awareness to DS and ask the public to open our mind to be understanding and supportive of the people with DS, providing a friendly environment for them to develop their full potentials at various stages of their life and lead a dignified, full and productive life.