Modern Dutch Masters
(First draft of an introduction to Justin’s forthcoming book of drawings) Justin was born almost exactly 15 years ago last week. In the weeks that followed his birth and subsequent diagnosis, as a child with Down Syndrome, we were given or sent all manner of information, stories and reflections—from affected parents, organizations, and public health workers—aimed at easing our initial distress and confusion, and preparing us for some of the challenges ahead. (At that time, we only saw challenge, restrictions, constraints, attenuation: his life (and ours) would inevitably be not just different from, but “less than”, what we might otherwise have hoped for. At the same time, our duty of care was extended, or so we imagined, from the standard two score years of contemporary middle class parenthood to an indefinite sentence: life without parole. One of the pieces we received at that time was a short homily by Emily Perl Kingsley titled ‘Welcome t...
