by My heart is always full when I see people with Down syndrome working or volunteering, spending time in the community, and being treated as equals.
A couple days ago I had stopped in to a local restaurant for dinner. Sitting at the bar were three gentlemen enjoying their beers. It wasn’t until I was seated at my table that I could see that one of the three men had Down syndrome.
Yes. People with Down syndrome can even drink beer just like everyone else.
But that’s not why I had enjoyed the moment.
I enjoyed the moment because those three men seated at the bar were treating each other as equals. They were joking about things that happened at work, and they were all equally participating and listening.
As their time at the bar came to a close, I watched as the men all paid their own checks. Both men offered the other man with Down syndrome a ride home. He politely declined and used his own smart phone to schedule an Uber pickup.
Independence and community were amazing to witness first hand like that.
I hope and pray that AJ is able to experience community in that way as well. (Okay, maybe without the beer. I’m not sure I’m ready for that!)
AJ already attends school and he loves it. He sits in the same classroom as his peers. He’s expected to learn and follow the same routines as they do. Some of the tasks themselves are hard for him (especially if they involve fine motor or abstract concepts), but others he excels at (like identifying and naming letters and their phonetical sounds). The kids are amazing and play and interact with him, and he’s able to simply belong.
He learns so much by being in the classroom with the other kids. He sees the other kids walking instead of crawling. He watches them play with new toys and learns how they work. He’s able to interact and learn how to communicate with other people besides just those of us in our house.
I’m positive he’s teaching the other kids things too – and not just the sign language his speech pathologist has been sharing with the classroom. Patience. Forgiveness. Joy in the small things. Resilience. Acceptance… The list goes on.
I truly believe that a diverse community is a healthy community. We all have things we can contribute and we certainly can all learn from one another.
