In 1929, the life expectancy of someone with Down’s syndrome (DS) was just nine years. Today, it is 60 years. Advances in healthcare have been the key driving force behind the dramatic leap in lifespan, with an estimated 15 to 20 per cent of children with DS requiring surgery for heart defects that were inoperable before the advent of paediatric cardiology in the 1980s.
In the past 40 years alone, the outcomes for people with DS have improved beyond recognition. In the 1960s, newborns were often sent to institutions, where they would live unstimulating, unchallenging lives until their health got the better of them.
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