The Graça family from Brazil

My name is Andre Graça. Me and my wife live in Sao Paulo, Brazil, one of the biggest cities in the world.

We have two children, twins, they are 2 years old. Esther and Guilherme; Guilherme has Down syndrome. Both are incredible kids, with a lot of love to share.

We discovered that Gui (nickname of Guilherme) would have Down syndrome during Dani’s preganancy. It was a shock to us, since we were trying to get pregnant for many years. More than this, we are raised to believe that we need to preserve our genes with a child better than us, and because of ignorance we understood that a kid with Down syndrome is not better.

We do not have any people with Down syndrome near to us, so we started to learn about it. We do not have any support of our community or government.

But we understand that Gui is not Down syndrome, he is a regular kid with needs as any other kid. We have known that since his birth, and we have been seen that every day. There is no difference between him and Esther. Both are smart, fun and lovely. He only needs some improvement of physiotherapy, but it is no problem.

We believe that Down syndrome is not different for any person, and we need to share more about it. We need to learn and remember to respect.

That is our life in our words.

The best way to promote awareness of Down syndrome is for people with Down syndrome to share their own stories in their own words.

If you have a story that you would like to share with the world, please click here: SHARE YOUR STORY