Down syndrome is a medical condition that has been misunderstood for many years. While a healthy person has 46 chromosomes, the Down syndrome person has an extra chromosome in the 21st pair.1 However, Down Syndrome cannot be cured, but there are some treatments available to improve their physical and mental wellbeing.
A Down Syndrome, Vocational and Rehabilitation Center, is a place designed to work in parallel with educational and academic institutes to give people with Down syndrome a potential to engage with the social and work environment. Moreover, this support ranges from education, extra-auricular activities, tutorials as well as professional support for adults. The center will welcome their families and any other volunteers to give lessons or workshops to people with Down syndrome and the community.
Due to the growing of the population in Bahrain, the numbers of Down syndrome people will correspondingly increase, and by the lack of care to their needs, this group will face a significant problem. The number of Down syndrome in Bahrain cannot be known accurately because they are not registered as Down syndrome at birth (interview with Jalila Almajid – Nurse supervisor) (another interview with Mr. Abbas) the number of Down syndrome people registered in 2018 is (410 only). So, only the number of registered people in centers is known. Currently, in Bahrain, there are (1700 people) (Alwatan,2015) are registered with Down syndrome which represents 0.11 from the Bahraini population.
The reason behind the decreasing of the number of registered people in the centers:
- The awareness of people is not increasing.
- The stigma toward this condition is not decreasing.
- People are not informed and do not see in the centers the support that will help them to be productive and part of the society.
The main goal of the project is to raise awareness of Down syndrome to diminish the stigma that society has towards it while supporting the education and professional development of young and adults with this condition and their families.
The primary users are adults with Down syndrome form 15-35 years old (during & after graduating from school) and their families. Secondary users include volunteers who can train the students alongside the instructors to improve their skills and ability to socialize with others in real life.
According to the statistics that are provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Development show that most of the people with Down syndrome who benefits from the care center in Bahrain are between the age of (1month – 17) which means that the majority of them are not getting any support in terms of education and health. The statistics of 2015 show that 1700 people in Bahrain are Down syndrome and every year 27 child is born with Down syndrome:
- 400 people out of 1700 are benefiting from the Down syndrome Care Center in Bahrain (Ministry of Labor and Social Development).
- To get the percentage of people who benefit from Down syndrome Care Center, the total number of Down syndrome people in Bahrain divided by the number of people people who are registered and benefit from the center 400/1700 = 0.235*100=23.5%. Which means that almost quarter of Down syndrome people are benefiting while 76.5% are not getting enough care.
- Majority of the (23.5%) who are benefiting from the center their average age is between ( 1 month – 17) which means that people above 18 are not registered and not getting any support.
- The majority of the (76.5%) are between (15-35) which means that teens and adults with Down syndrome are not registered and not getting the chance to be involved in the society.
To conclude, since the project aims to provide services that cover the current and future needs of Down syndrome people. The center will serve the 23.5% children who are registered in the care center when they grow up as well as, the 23.5% out of 76.5% that has been assumed as the percentage of people from (15-35). In total the center will be receiving 400 teens and adults students every year.
Families have an essential part of the project that should be kept into consideration because they play a significant role in the behavior and lifestyle of the Down syndrome people. The center will provide them the awareness and the opportunity to help their children and support them either in the center or by learning things and applying it at home.
