Weekend reading: 11 - 12 June 2016

Maken Understand Love
Mardra Sikora (guest blogger), Ellen Stumbo, 6 June 2016
... didn’t want to tell him of these articles, of mothers who feel that their children, who look a little like him, are “better off” dead. That there are people who claim that those with Down syndrome are not worthy of life. I do not want to tell him these things.

But then he surprised me, as he has before and doubtless will again, when he intuitively knew more about the situation than I shared. He looked across the table and said, in his way, “Maken Understand.” ...

Parenting my kid who has Down syndrome isn't all rainbows and unicorns

Maureen Wallace, She Knows, 8 June 2016

When a mom writes a letter to the doctor who kept telling her to abort her baby with Down syndrome, telling him how wrong he was, chances are good it will go viral.

“Oh my God!” we think indignantly. “The nerve! That baby is beautiful! All life is precious!”

Then we share the post along with pink twirling hearts and gaping-mouthed smileys to show our support for this beautiful almost-aborted baby. Maybe toss in a unicorn or a rainbow.

But what are we really accomplishing? ...

First and Last Impressions
Kelle Hampton, Enjoying the Small Things, 8 June 2016
... “She is wise enough to know that she’s at a different level than her friends, but smart enough to know that she can fit in,” her teacher writes. “She has a wonderful stubborn streak that reminds you that she knows herself well and won’t settle for less. She is most comfortable being treated as equal and being given the same responsibilities as her friends.” Oh, to have your children seen for who they truly are ...

Strike a Pose
Link Disability Magazine, June 2016 (Vol 25, #2)
In April Madeline (Stuart, 19, was invited to model at Caspian Fashion Week in Astrakham, Russia, an experience she describes as “awesome”, also appearing on television in Moscow and conducting numerous media interviews ... Though the response to Madeline has been largely positive, Roseanne says convincing the fashion and beauty industries to employ a model with disability can still be a tough sell. “The response has been both positive and negative,” she says. “The positive has been wonderful and inclusive with a lot of people contacting us for Maddy to work for them but there is still a huge stigma and it is a lot of hard work to convince most people that they are helping themselves by including Madeline. Not only are they being inclusive but they have huge publicity opportunities which is great for everyone, as with more publicity things become just an everyday occurrence” ...

For Nicholas Love
Letitia Keighley, Embracing Wade, 18 May 2016
... There is something. It’s there fluttering away quietly in the deep recesses of my heart. It’s the feeling of breath leaving my lungs with joy. I have tried so hard to explain it over the years and I can’t. It’s a purity, a soundness, a deep rooted sense of connection I have with Wade. He sees me and gets me ...

White bread performance won't cut the mustard

Claire Stewart, Australian Financial Review, 10 June 2016

Jamie Brewer, the star of US television hit American Horror Story, flew to Australia in late May to spend a weekend making a short film, just south of Sydney. Filming finished ahead of schedule – usually unheard of – and so far, the director says, the rushes look fantastic.

Brewer has Down Syndrome and 11 of the crew have intellectual disabilities. They're also students at director Genevieve Clay-Smith's Bus Stop Films production company.

"That weekend dispelled a few stigmas about inclusion, both on a film set and in the workforce generally, that it's too hard to employ a person with a disability, that it will compromise on quality, and that it will slow things down." ...