Learn more about getting involved with NDSS in October!
The month of October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month where we celebrate Down syndrome and let everyone know our abilities and that we are capable of doing anything we set our minds to.
I would like everyone to call us differently abled as opposed to retarded (hate that word), handicapped (almost as bad) or someone with an intellectual developmental disability (sounds like science to me) because just about every one of us is differently abled in some way.
We have the same wants and dreams as everyone else. We can do anything anyone else can do. We are more alike than we are different. I can drive, go to college, maintain a job as the Manager of Grassroots Advocacy at the National Down Syndrome Society and be the first registered lobbyist with Down syndrome. We want to date and get married. We want the American Dream, same as anyone else.
My friends that are differently abled do things equally as well. My friend Johnny is self-taught and plays the Bagpipes, my friend Byron can sing like nobody’s business, my friend Carrie is a Zumba instructor. The point is, we all have the same abilities as everyone else, we may take longer to do them, but that is okay. We just try our best and our hardest. That’s all we want everyone to be aware of and please don’t squash our dreams!
-Kayla McKeon