“A child with disability Don’t you just start school? In the best case scenario, you might just call the school management,” explains Nina Barth. She did that promptly – and was disappointed. “In the phone conversation, after ‘Good day’, they immediately said: ‘We don’t accept anything like that here’. And then something inside you breaks. It’s a small death,” she says.

Raising a child with Down syndrome: There is no “roadmap”

Being a parent with a child Down syndrome is “one more thing”. “Because you don’t have this timetable or these books with the milestones that are reached. It’s completely different from person to person, and that’s something where you have to adapt again and again individually,” says Barth.

Eyes for the little things

Despite the challenges that Joshua’s Down syndrome brings, the mother also talks about many very valuable experiences. “There are many great moments that we wouldn’t experience if we didn’t have the eyes for the little things. A child learning to walk just like that is one thing, that’s wonderful. But if you’ve worked hard for it and see every step carefully, achieving it is one of them Milestones actually much nicer.”