"If You Want to Be Somebody...

...if you want to go somewhere, 

You'd better wake up and PAY ATTENTION!"  

(Name that movie.)  But seriously, PAY ATTENTION.  Do you know what month it is?  My blog says it's October now.  So do you know what that means?  We all know October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, right?  Right.  We've all started to see those little pink ribbons showing up all over the place, we're hearing about the Susan G. Komen Run/Walks taking place all over the country--this is a serious problem and we take this month to put it in the face of the public, raising awareness and support for women and their families who have survived this terrible illness and remembering those who lost that fight.

But October calls us to remember another awesome group of people, too.

Do you know what that group is?

October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month.  Raise your hand if you knew that.  Probably not too many of us did, huh?  

My mom has worked with people with disabilities since I was a little kid, so for me, they have never held the stigma they do for some people.  When you spend your time as a child hanging out with people with autism, Down syndrome, schizophrenia, etc., (under extremely close supervision, of course, as they were adults and I was a kid), you don't see people with disabilities as "different," you just see them as people.  

That's probably why I started volunteering with Special Olympics in about 8th grade, why I did my Girl Scout Silver Award project for a group home, why I volunteered as a peer tutor in a Special Ed. classroom, why I worked in a Special Ed preschool, why my best friend in Kindergarten and 1st grade was deaf and I used to spend recess in First Grade helping a girl who was blind around the playground...you can see it's shaped my life in a lot of ways.  I could tell you sooooo many amazing stories about people with disabilities, and I bet my sister could, too--our parents did a good job raising us to be tolerant, loving people who can see beyond differences of all kinds.  We were lucky.

But in high school, I learned that occasionally, when we can all put our biases and preconceived notions aside, amazing things can happen.  When I was a senior in high school (some of you will remember this), there was a guy in the Special Ed. class named Chip.  Chip was hilarious, sweet, funny, clever--and he happened to have Down syndrome.  I had been hanging out with Chip, helping him at Special Olympics, working in his classroom, etc,. for years, and we knew each other pretty well.

Every year for homecoming, each club or group was allowed to nominate a guy and a girl for Homecoming King and Queen.  The Special Ed. class was no exception; Uintah H.S. had a pretty cool policy that the nominees from special ed. would automatically "win" 3rd runner up, so they would be able to participate and have this kind of honor whether people voted for them or not.  Pretty cool, considering we all know the type of people who are typically in Homecoming court are the cheerleader, football captain types--opportunities these kids didn't have.  So each club had to design a float for the parade, do a skit in the homecoming assembly, and I'm sure there were other requirements I don't remember.  

How I managed to fit all this into my schedule senior year is beyond me, because all I remember about that year is LITERALLY living at school, maybe sleeping for 3-4 hours at my folks' house each night.  But I was involved in the leadership of the Special Ed club (I was president or something...I can't remember), so I helped.  We worked really hard to put the skit together, and all the kids from the class were in it.  And I couldn't tell you what it was about, but I remember it was HILARIOUS.  I was SO proud of them because the whole school laughed and laughed...and they weren't laughing AT them, because they had disabilities, they were laughing because they did such a great job and their skit was freaking hysterical!  :)

So we went through the week, finishing the float, doing all the required things, and by Thursday (voting day) we had all had such a great week we were just excited for all the weekend festivities.  Our two candidates had NO idea they would "automatically" be in Homecoming Court, so that would be a fun surprise at the pep assembly that night when my friend Janna and I had to pick them up and take them.  

After school that day, my friend Cheya, our class Vice President, came and found me.  "Jen, I have to tell you something," she said.

"What's up, Chey?"

"Well...we've been counting the votes for Homecoming king and queen and...well...Chip and Michelle are winning."

"WHAT?!  Are you serious????"  I had goosebumps all over.

"Yeah," Chey said.  "Um...by a landslide.  We still have votes to count, but I really think they're going to win King and Queen."

"Oh my gosh, that's amazing," I was practically crying with excitement at this point.  Not only was Chip winning, but the girl (I think her name was Michelle) from the Special Ed. class who was running for queen was ALSO winning--and she had literally just moved to town a few months earlier and hardly anyone even knew her.  "Chey, will you call me when you know for sure?  I have to pick them up and bring them to the pep assembly, and it would be awesome to know."  

So that afternoon, I was ECSTATIC when Cheya called and told me they had, indeed, both won--by a landslide.  I have NEVER been so proud of my classmates in my life.  I told my mom and we both were kind of freaking out because it would be so cool for them.  

That night I picked up Janna and told her they had won, so we would be prepared to help them get down to the Football field when it was announced at the end of the assembly.  We picked Chip and Michelle up at their houses and took them to school.  It was kind of a long, silly pep assembly (lots of cheerleading, dance team, flag team stuff, etc.), and Chip started asking, "Is it over yet?  Are we going home now?" long before it was time to announce Homecoming Court.  Finally the moment arrived.  When they announced the winners, Janna and I looked at them and said, "You guys!  You won!!"  They were shocked.  Michelle was jumping up and down and Chip looked at us, confused, so I said, "Chip!  You won!  You're the king!"  He just grinned, as understanding broke across his face.  

"I'm the King?" he asked.

"Yeah!  Come on you guys...we need to go down to the field!"

So we headed them down toward the field, and Jan and I stood on the sidelines and watched, tears streaming down both our faces.  It was such an awesome thing to see.  When it was all over, we got in the car and headed out to take them home.

When we dropped Chip off, his mom was at the door.  "Hey, buddy.  How'd it go?" she asked Chip.

"I'm the King," he answered.

"What did you say?"

"I'm the King."

She looked at me, confusion written all over her face.  I nodded.  "Chip's right.  He won.  He's the Homecoming King."  She just continued to look at me, baffled.  "The student body voted them in--Chip and Michelle are the Homecoming King and Queen.  They won, fair and square."

As belief swept over her, tears began to roll down her cheeks.  "My Chip is the Homecoming King?"  

"Yep," I grinned.  "Awesome, huh?"  

She turned and gave Chip a huge hug, still crying, while he continued to say, "I'm the King, mom.  I'm the King."  She thanked Janna and I profusely, and we headed off to Michelle's. 

The scene at her house was fairly similar, although I think Michelle had a clearer concept of what it meant to her to be chosen as Queen.  She practically bounced into her house, yelling to her mom that she was the Queen.  We had a similar, tearful conversation full of disbelief with Michelle's mom, congratulated her, and headed out.  

Jan and I were so happy to be the ones with them that night.  It was an amazing experience.  The next day I helped them get onto the float for Homecoming Court, then rode in the parade on the HiLites (our show choir) float myself.  The weekend was a whirlwind of activity, between singing at the football game, going on the second worst date of my life (another story for another time...but April would probably concur.  It was bad, but we laugh about it now), and heading to the Homecoming Dance.  The best part of the whole weekend was, once we arrived a the dance (much to our dates' chagrin) we immediately went to find Chip and Michelle.  They looked awesome!  The were totally dressed to the nines--Michelle was beautiful in her long sparkly dress, and Chip looked SO good in his suit and crown.  Everyone wanted to dance with the two of them, and I think they had a really great time.  I danced with Chip, and I remember asking him if he was having fun.  His response was something like this:  "Yes.  I'm having fun.  I'm the King.  I won.  I'm the King."  It was great.

So, that's just one awesome example of how people with Down syndrome can do anything.  Have you ever known anyone with Down syndrome?  Probably nearly all of us have, but that likelihood is, tragically, decreasing every day.   Here are some statistics on Down syndrome:

*Recent US studies have indicated that when Down syndrome is diagnosed prenatally, 84% to 91% of those babies will be killed by abortion (1999)

*About 5,000 children are born with Down syndrome each year in the US (Association for Children with Down Syndrome)

*Studies show between 1 out of every 733 to 1 out of every 800 babies born alive have Down syndrome (about .12%)

*In 2002, only 40 babies were born with Down Syndrome in the UK

*The average lifespan for a person with Down syndrome today is 55, with many living into their 70s and 80s

In general, people with Down syndrome are some of the most loving, gentle souls you'll ever encounter.  It's a tragedy that so many of these babies are being aborted due to pressure from doctors, false positives in pre-natal screening, poor information given to terrified parents regarding lifespan and care, etc.  This is why it's SO important to recognize this month, yes, as Breast Cancer Awareness month, but also as Down Syndrome Awareness Month.  

After all, don't we all thing it's important to keep little guys like this around?:

Baby Matthew at his first birthday party--a day he was never supposed to see!

If you want to know more about Down syndrome, do some research, help bust some of the fear and stereotypes out there, and help us remember that we are all beautiful parts of God's creation...whether we have 46 chromosomes or 47!  And if you want to know more about this beautiful little guy and hear their story from a parent's perspective, check out Matthew's blog.