In previous chapters, we have looked at the achievements of the Down's syndrome group, their abilities and accomplishments, and at their behaviour. Here, we look at their own lives as children and as adults, at home and out of the home. Current philosophy envisages people with learning disabilities living in the community and functioning, as far as possible, as ordinary members of the community; we wanted to see how far these aims had been achieved, what the difficulties were in achieving them, and what were the views of those concerned with the group about what should be done to help them.

Health can affect all other areas of a person's life, and we began by asking how the health of the children and young people had been during the intervals between 4 and 11 years, and between 11 and 21 years (see Table 6.1).

Health

Most in both the Down's syndrome and control groups, and at age 11 and 21, were seen as having good health, a finding similar to that in other studies (Holmes 1988; Shepperdson 1992). At age 21 one-quarter in each group (Down's syndrome 29%; controls 27%) were said to be very healthy. More of the children in the Down's syndrome group had poor health but the difference from the controls is not significant. By 21 years two of these delicate children (both girls) had died.