Down syndrome is the most common cause of intellectual disability in Australia and renowned child health expert Professor Fiona Stanley calls Greater Expectations THE book to read if you have a child with Down syndrome.
Based on more than sixty personal interviews and supported by scholarly research, the book shows the varied attitudes and approaches which together make up the rich experience of living with Down syndrome in a changing society.
This moving, partly autobiographical, account is a must for all those people – parents, teachers, health professionals and policy makers – who make choices that affect people with Down syndrome.
"A lot of books on Down syndrome cross my path, but I started reading this one and couldn't stop. Jan Gothard's fascinating, wide-ranging research opens a window onto families' lives and show us, dramatically, just why we can have greater expectations for people with Down syndrome in the twenty-first century."
- Michael Berube, Paterno Family Professor in Literature, Pennsylvania State University and author of Life As We Know It- A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Child
"This is the book I'd want to read if I had had a child with Down syndrome. It's the book I'd recommend to parents who already have a child with Down syndrome, or for who prenatal testing has indicated Down syndrome, and they are wondering what on earth the future holds. As a scientist working in the area of child health, I would also recommend it to all those people - teachers, health professionals including doctors, and policy makers - who work with people with disabilities or who make the decisions which affect them."
- Professor Fiona Stanley, AC, Patron, Down Syndrome Association of Western Australia