P is for Phoenix – NDSC – The Road We've Shared

P is also for “people” and “professionals”

By Sue Joe of the National Down Syndrome Congress

Phoenix is the host city for his year’s NDSC Convention in June, and it’s where we’ll be bringing together people (that’s you!) and professionals in the Down syndrome world, and let the learning begin. Really, there is nowhere else on earth that you can get this kind of opportunity for education and sharing under one roof.

And since the P in Phoenix also sounds like F, let’s go ahead and make the leap that P is for Families!

The NDSC Annual Convention is compared to a “Giant Family Reunion” for a reason. When you walk onto the premises of our convention hotel, in any year and in any city across the country, it feels like you’ve come home. Home to the people who get you – even if you haven’t seen them since you were eight years old. Just like a family! Only here, you may have never laid eyes on these people before in your entire life. But they still totally get you.

For more than 40 years, the National Down Syndrome Congress has worked to educate, advocate and empower. We are an inclusive organization that impacts families of all cultural, socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds. We extend our support from the moment of a prenatal diagnosis through adulthood. Through our self-advocate programs, we work to empower individuals with Down syndrome to live the life of their choosing. That is who we are.

Our most visible and well-known program is our annual national convention, and each year, more than 300 teen and adult self-advocates come together for a fun, exciting, and enriching weekend. With the support of our Y&A Leadership Team, the Youth and Adults Conference is planned and presented by self-advocates. We call the Y&A Conference the heart and soul of the convention. Just take a peek inside the ballrooms when they are all together, walk by one of the 12 workshops being led by self-advocates, or take a trip to the dance floor on Saturday night, and you’ll understand why. People leave our convention knowing more and feeling they can do more. That’s powerful, with a capital P.

Visit our website at www.ndsccenter.org or contact us anytime at info@ndsccenter.org; 800-232-6372.