‘People Need To See Beyond The Diagnosis’: Maltese Mother And Daughter On A Mission To Raise Down Syndrome Awareness
A Maltese mother and daughter influencer duo are on a mission to raise awareness and real discussions about Down Syndrome awareness on the island.
”We’d wish to change perceptions, to make people believe in everyone’s abilities, life value. We’d love people to see beyond a diagnosis and learn to accept everyone for their unique beauty,” Graziella Bartolo Pizzuto, mother to three-year-old Faith, told Lovin Malta.
The Facebook blog, Up And Up With Faith, run by the mother, portrays the family’s everyday life and is written from Faith’s perspective, revealing the ‘imqarba ħelwa”s day-to-day cheeky mischief.
Down Syndrome is a genetic disorder in which a person is born with an extra chromosome – but it’s so much more than that.
”It was like winning the lottery without even realising it,” Graziella writes in one of her blogs.
She believes that people with Down Syndrome truly change your life since they transmit a different kind of love and care that makes you want to be around them more often.
The family’s biggest aim is to raise as much awareness as possible – many don’t know how to interact with people or children who have Down Syndrome.
”What we aim for is awareness, and mainly the reality in raising a child with a disability, the way we live as a family, the way forward, what we wish for our child from society,” the mother exclaimed.
Graziella wishes for a world where her beautiful and charismatic daughter, Faith, is accepted for who she is, nothing less, nothing more – a world where anyone with a disability is given the same opportunities.
She also discusses how anyone can be blessed with a child with Down Syndrome, and future parents must be prepared for it ‘in a way she wasn’t’.
The family has learned and gained so much in the past few years and are welcoming the New Year with open arms – excited to see what the future holds for the family and for Faith.
Tag someone who needs to see this
READ NEXT: 'Keep Him In Your Prayers:' Malta's Politicians Unite As Silvio Parnis Struggles With Health Issues
