The extra factor

This Down Syndrome Awareness Month, let’s understand the diagnosis, development, and dignity that surround the most common chromosomal condition in the world

- Shilpi

Bengaluru-based Mudita Khimji remembers that moment with piercing clarity. “When the doctors told us our daughter had Down syndrome, everything went still. My initial feelings were fear and uncertainty—I didn’t know what her future would look like, or if the world would be kind to her,” she recalls. “There was grief, not because of her, but because of all the assumptions Id unknowingly held about parenthood. That moment shattered them—and opened me up to something deeper,” Khimji recounts.

Down syndrome is a genetic condition where a child is born with an extra copy of chromosome 21, altering physical and cognitive development. People with Down Syndrome are neurodivergent, meaning they may think, learn, and interact differently from neurotypical individuals.

“Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal condition in the world, occurring in about one in every 800 live births. It is not a disease; it’s a genetic condition, a difference, not a defect,” reiterates Dr Surekha Ramachandran, President, Down Syndrome Federation of India, a parent support organisation that serves innumerable children, parents and their families in India and the Middle East.

Early screening

When Khimji gave birth in the early 2000s, she and her husband were based in Hubli, a small town in Karnataka. It was their second child. Since their firstborn had shown no risk factors, no one suggested advanced screening tests that could have detected chromosomal anomalies.