The Link Between Down Syndrome and Alzheimers Disease Essay example --

The necktie Between Down Syndrome and Alzheimers DiseaseThe individuals with Disabilities Education Act states that all children with disabilities, including psychological retardation, be educated to the maximum extent appropriate with students who are not disabled (2). In an ideal world, society would work no problem sideline this decree, but the world is less than perfect and, therefore, stigmas are unfortunately attached to those suffering from mental disabilities, especially the mentally retarded. One has to question whether this group of mass deserves these stigmas. Having grown up with two severely retarded cousins and, for that matter, a great uncle suffering from Alzheimers Disease, I often wondered as to what was happening within their brains. It was evident that they were otiose to respond to me in a normal fashion, but I challenged whether this was just a veneer. Being a spiritual person and believing the mind to be akin to the soul, I always felt it must be separate from the brain. A part of me hoped that their minds were still cognizant even though their brain appeared to have a different physiology and they seemed to be unable to respond to me in a normal fashion. However, upon researching the link present between Down Syndrome and Alzheimers Disease, I began to question whether my forward beliefs were indeed true. I think the questioning of this raises ethical issues about how we treat the mentally disabled and gives quite an argument for the brain = behavior debate.As more(prenominal) and more adults live longer, age-associated mental disease is becoming more and more of a concern. Present estimations state that soon nearly 10 million Americans pass on suffer from the disabling disease called Alzheimers. Alzheimers s... ... Risk of Down Syndome with Increasing Maternal and Paternal Age, swell Detailed Sitehttp//www.lifesciences.napier.ac.uk/bws/courses/projects/downsynd/home.htm9)Alzheimers Disease and People with Mental Retardation, Good Detailed Sitehttp//www.thearc.org/faqs/almr.html10)Developmental Disabilities and Alzheimers Disease, Good Detailed Site by The Archttp//www.thearc.org/misc/alzbk.html11)Epidemiology of Alzheimer Disease in Mental Retardation, Periodicals Indexhttp//www.aamr.org/index.shtml12)Fact Sheet Alzheimers Disease, Family Caregiver Alliancehttp//www.caregiver.org/factsheets/diagnoses/alzheimers.html13)Harvard Researchers Link Alzheimers to Problem With Chromosome Segregation Presenilin Proteins are Found in Cell Structures Involved in Mitosis, Recent Press Releasehttp//www.hms.harvard.edu/news/releases/897alzheimer.html