People First

Smelling the flowers ...
Yesterday I read a wonderful post on "But she doesn't look like she has DS ..." - from memory it is from Lovely and Amazing - well worth reading! Today as I was reading the Sydney Morning Herald - there were two articles related to autism - or rather people with autism - one had a heading about an 'autistic man' and the first line in the other referred to 'autistic children'. It reminded me of yesterday's post. Is this the first and last battle against the unspoken prejudices our kids experience? One of the mum's in the news article was quoted as saying "he is a gorgeous and happy little boy ...". When will others see a person, a child with many abilities before they see the disability, the stereotype, the difference?

So here she is - a little girl - gorgeous, happy, SO determined to keep up with her twin - who happens to have Down syndrome. Her focus and persistence amaze me. Yes doing things that Kit picks up so quickly take her longer (usually) but oh my - she sticks at it until she has got it - like riding these bikes - we got Hannah the tricycle for her birthday - and she loves it but she also wanted to have a go on Kit's bigger bike too - and no one could persuade her otherwise!