In a moving speech before the 37th session of the Human Rights Council last week, Mr. Stephens told his audience that the most important thing that can be done to improve the lives of people with Down syndrome is to remember their status as human beings, equal in dignity to everyone else.
"I am a man," Stephens said. "See me as a human being, not a birth defect, not a syndrome. I don’t need to be eradicated. I don’t need to be cured. I need to be loved, valued, educated and, sometimes, helped."
Mr. Stephens was invited to speak at the U.N. days before the celebration of World Down Syndrome Day 2018, to be held on March 21.
Ironically, his address came the day after an Ohio judge sided with the abortion industry and blocked a law that banned selective abortions targeting babies diagnosed with Down syndrome.