DOWN SYNDROME - A CHALLENGE FOR THE PARENTS, SUPPORT FOR MATURITY OF THE SOCIETY- A TRIBUNE

Abstract

On the 15.10.2011, in the large amphitheatre at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, was held a tribune with the title "Down Syndrome, a challenge for the parents, support for maturity of the society". The tribune was organized by the Macedonian Scientific Society for Autism and “Trisomy 21” Association from Zagreb, Croatia.
The goal of the tribune was to encourage opinions and to support general sensibility in the community, as well as to present the needs of the people with Down Syndrome as an equal members of the society. This is proposed together with greater benefits from the state institutions in order to improve the quality of the lifestyle of these category of people, as well as the members of their families.
This event was covered by the media  and  had more than 300 visitors. Parents, students, experts and persons with Down Syndrome could be seen among the audience in the auditorium.
Among the present was also the ambassador of the Republic of Croatia, while the opening keynote speech was presented by the Dean for International Cooperation at Faculty of Philosophy, Prof. Dr. Lena Damovska. Within the program schedule, Mrs. Helena Melovnik Zrinjski, a parent and an executive director at “Trisomy 21”, gave a speech titled “My child also has a Down Syndrome”, explaining her experience as a parent of a child with Down Syndrome.
Rosica Koleva, a postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge, shared her experience in terms of inclusion of the persons with Down Syndrome in the mainstream primary schools in England.
Prim. M.A. Milivoj Kramarikj, a psychiatrist at "KBC Rebro" from Zagreb, Croatia, talked about the mental healthcare of people with intellectual impairments in Croatia.
Dr. Elizabeth Zisovska, a pediatrician-neonatologist at the Clinic for Gynecology and Obstetrics in Skopje, elaborated around the meaning of the phenocopies in the clinical practice. Dr. Acka Tushevska, a specialist in psychiatry at the "Rebro KBC" institute from Zagreb, RH / PC Skopje, held a presentation describing the postpartum depressive conditions found in women who gave a birth to a child with Down Syndrome.
The President of the Macedonian Scientific Society for Autism, Prof. Dr. Vladimir Trajkovski, at the end of his lecture spoke about the news in the genetics of the Down Syndrome.
At the completion of the planned presentations, an open discussion in a duration of one hour took place among the present students from several faculties, the parents and the experts from many areas of practice.