192: Down Syndrome and Mormonism with Kathryn Soper Part 1

Mormon Stories Podcast

Dr. John Dehlin

Religion & Spirituality

4.5 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 September 2010

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kathy Soper is a mother of seven, memoirist, essayist, editor, nonprofit CEO, practicing Mormon, depression survivor, Down syndrome advocate, Greek-blooded American, Maryland-bred Utah transplant, WordTwist addict and BSG groupie. She has edited numerous books, including Dance With Them: 30 Stumbling Mothers Catch Glimpses of Grace and The Mother in Me: anthologies of personal essays and poetry written by mothers about the challenges and joys of mothering. She is the editor of Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children With Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives and Gifts 2: How People with Down Syndrome Enrich the World. Kathy is also the editor-in-chief of Segullah: Writings by Latter-day Saint Women, which is a print journal dedicated to encouraging literary talent and promoting greater faith and understanding among Latter-day Saint women as well as a blog. Kathy’s most recent book, The Year My Son and I Were Born, is a memoir of the transformations Kathy underwent the year after her son Thomas was born with Down Syndrome. Kathy’s website (http://kathrynlynardsoper.com/) says that it’s a story about coming to terms with being human and learning how to deal with hard surprises.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Mormon Stories podcast takes a ton of work and depends solely upon the listener's support.
0:05.0	To keep this program alive, please consider a donation today at MormonStories.org.
0:18.0	Okay, this is Heather Olson-Beele and I'm here today with Kathy Soeper, a blogger knackle queen. Is that fair?
0:29.0	No, I don't know about blogger knackle queen.
0:33.0	I feel like I'm rubbing elbows with the rich and famous.
0:36.0	Oh, please.
0:37.0	Oh, please.
0:38.0	Okay, I was going to read something from your website and then you can add to it or subtract it if you want.
0:45.0	Okay, so on Kathy's website it says that Kathy is the wife of one, mother of seven, a memoirist, essayist, editor, non-profit CEO, practicing Mormon, depression survivor,
0:57.0	Down syndrome advocate, Greek blooded American, Maryland bread, Utah transplant, word twist addict, and BSG groupie, not necessarily in that order.
1:08.0	Yeah, that sounds just about right.
1:11.0	So let me, I told you that I wanted to ask if you would say, this is just kind of a tic-tac question, but it's important to me.
1:17.0	Whether there's a preferred way, whether you would prefer for people to say that you have a son with Down syndrome.
1:25.0	I mean, are there certain ways that people refer to children that you like or are there things that people say that make you cringe?
1:34.0	Yes.
1:35.0	Okay, definitely.
1:36.0	Tell.
1:37.0	But I have to, I have to, I have to temper that by saying, you know, before I had Thomas, there are all kinds of things that I said that were not at all intended to be.
1:54.0	And so, I do not want to be the kind of person who's walking around getting angry because someone phrases something a certain way, especially when there's, when there's no intent to offend, then it's kind of silly to take offense.
2:13.0	Now, in the early months after Thomas's birth, I was very touchy because anything anyone said, you know, just, it was like punching all these fresh bruises that I had.
2:26.0	Right.
2:27.0	And so, I was very difficult for me to have conversations about, about Thomas for a while.
	...

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