Quilt & Share Project Will Teach People with Down Syndrome to Quilt

18. August 2008 pete

The Quilt and Share Project plans to offer people with Down Syndrome an opportunity to learn to quilt. At the same time, local Down Syndrome advocacy groups will have a unique fundraising opportunity. While quilt festivals and quilt benefit auctions are taking the country by storm, Down Syndrome groups will be getting in on the action. Special quilters will be encouraged to donate one of the quilts they make in the classes to a benefit auction for their local advocacy group.

class221.com Quilt & Share Project: Our passion at class221 is teaching people with Down Syndrome and other special needs to make small quilts, table toppers, pillows and wall quilts. Two ways to get involved:

1. You can start teaching special quilters in your own community. The introductory class will focus on developing pre-quilting skills. Intermediate and advanced classes will range from quilting pillows, 20″ table toppers, 40″ crib quilts, through 60″ square throws. (contact Quilt & Share Project)

2. You can organize a local Quilt & Share Benefit Auction to raise funds for your local Down Syndrome or other special needs advocacy group. Auction items are donated by special quilters or patrons and friends of the local chapter. (email for more information)

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Down Syndrome Self Advocate Dreams of Being a Nurse

11. August 2008 pete

Meridith Martin

I am Meredith Martin, a 24 year old self advocate from the small Northeast Nebraska community of Neligh I attended elementary and high school here and graduated with the Class of 2000. After graduation, as my friends were heading off to college, I knew I wanted to go somewhere, too. So, I left my parents home and moved in to my own apartment. Although I did not have a roommate or even a pet, I did enjoy my new feeling of independence (once my cable TV was connected).

 When I was in second grade I decided that I wanted to become a nurse. Although I have not met that dream yet, I am working at our hospital as an office aid. Some days I do get to help the nurses out on the floor or assist in cardiac rehab. Those are my best days at work. I also work two other part time jobs. One is at our grocery store and the other is at an assisted living facility. I am happiest when I am busy and out and about in the community.

 I have not given up on my dream to be a nurse.

 One goal that I have had since I was about four was to get a drivers license. Once I moved into my apartment, I hated to have to keep calling my parents for rides to work, so I hired a driving instructor. I soon had my drivers license and a whole new feeling of independence!

 I am active in my church and community. I enjoy kickboxing, Pilates and I walk and ride my bike a lot. I am always ready for a shopping trip or a chance to do lunch with friends. Dancing is a passion, so NDSC conventions are a real treat since there are no discos in my town. I love to fish and spend time boating with my family. One of the things that has shocked my mom the most is how I have started to enjoy cooking and trying new recipes since leaving home. I do invite my parents over often for an evening meal.

 I have so enjoyed attending the NDSC conventions through the years. I have met so many wonderful people who have inspired me to work even harder, to continue to dream and set new goals. At the 2006 convention I was elected to the NDSC Board as a self advocate. That was an exciting moment. I am enjoying having an active part with this fine group of people. I feel we have a real message to share and I will work to be a positive force in getting out the encouraging news that we have about Down syndrome.

 My S.T.A.R. philosophy is one that has served me pretty well so far: S–Surround yourself with positive supportive people; T–Teach others about your disability (or abilities); A–Always advocate for yourself and others; R–Reach for your North Star!

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Down Syndrome Self Advocate Takes Sewing Classes

11. August 2008 pete

Christi Hockel

My name is Christi Hockel. This Christmas I will turn 28 years old. I have lived all of my life in Walnut Creek, California. I am a courtesy clerk at Safeway where I like to talk with the customers. I live in my own studio apartment which is attached to my family home. I am known around here as “Auntie Christi” because I love my 23 nieces and nephews.

I graduated from Northgate High School with a diploma in 2000. I learned to drive and have a license. I go to Diablo Valley College, where I have taken lots of dance and drama classes (along with P.E. classes, Spanish, Music Literature, Sign Language, and Voice & Diction). My GPA is 3.9. For two semesters, I was a teacher’s assistant in the beginning drama class. I love to perform and I keep working on my monologue!

I have taken piano lessons, singing lessons, and sewing lessons. I know how to cook lots of things. Right now, I am working on losing weight! I love to draw and make things with beads. I watch television a lot. I like to watch movies, sports, and old shows. I go bowling with my friends once a week, and volunteer at the hospital for almost 600 hours. I have a boyfriend who lives in Texas, and we spend a lot of time on the phone, and flying back and forth for visits.

I was a Board member of the NDSC from 2003-2006. Now, another door opened for me. I get to be on the Self-Advocate Council and talk with people with many different ideas.

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Down Syndrome Self Advocate Speaker Leads Full Life

11. August 2008 pete

Carrie Bergeron-Desai

Carrie is a thirty-year old yound adult with Down Syndrome from upstate New York. She radiates joy and warmth when you meet her. This trait has been evident ever since she was a hypotonic infant with a wobbly head!

 Carrie is presently in a NYS Self - Determination transition plan, living in Rome, NY with her husband. She is married to Sujeet Desai. They were married this past July in two lovely ceremonies, one Hindu and the second Christian and are settling into their new life together. They have staff support with their daily routines and are doing very well in this transition time.

 Carrie volunteers two days a week at the Upstate Cerebral Palsy Center working with toddlers. She received a two - degree (obtained in four and a years) from Herkimer County Community College as a teacher’s assistant in 2003. She also, volunteers at the Rome Memorial Hospital three days a week doing office work and helping out with the Tai Chi program on the geriatric floor. Phyiscal fitness is maintained by daily visits to the local YMCA plus two classes in Tae Kwon Do (maintaining black belt status), music, and dancing.

 She is a former board member of the National Down Syndrome Congress Board of Directors and now serves on the Self Advocacy Committee and the Youth and Adult Committee. She loves to share her experiences as a young adult with Down Syndrome. Carrie and her husband, Sujeet, will continue to present at conferences. They radiate their love for each other and also complement one another with her flair for speaking and his flair for music, making a wonderful lifelong team!

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Mother of Special Child Faces Deportation and Tough Decision

9. December 2007 pete

Children with Down syndrome are openly discriminated against in many other cultures.  This Moroccon mother facing deportation is trying to decide whether to take her child with her back to Morocco or to separate from him permanently.  There must be room in this great country for one more mother.

(Dayton Daily News)  Sami Hamdi could be a poster child for the way children with Down syndrome are embraced in American society.

He’s a popular pupil at an Englewood preschool serving special-needs children.

He’s the pampered pet of his family, a sunny-natured child who loves to sit on his mother’s lap or play peek-a-boo with his three sisters.

Sami’s mother, Fatiha Elgharib, knows that things would have been very different for her son in her native Morocco. “The truth is, if he had been born in my country, he would not be alive,” she said.

But now Elgharib and her husband must decide whether to separate him permanently from his mother, or send him home with her to Morocco.

Elgharib is facing deportation, having exhausted her legal avenues to remain in this country. She returned home to Englewood on Nov. 26 after spending five months in jail for failing to appear at a deportation hearing. “The notice was sent to an old address, and I never received it,” Elgharib said.

Jail has left the devout Muslim woman shaken. She is taking anti-anxiety medications after a lifetime of good health. But her greatest anxiety is what will happen to Sami and his thoroughly Americanized sisters if they are forced to return to their parents’ native country. In Morocco, Elgharib said, children with Down syndrome are derided as “Mongoloids” and offered few educational opportunities or medical care.

It’s equally hard to imagine how Sami would fare without his mother. When she was in jail, his language skills and potty training lapsed.

However you feel about immigration, here’s the truth: Children are paying for the actions of their parents. Sami is a 5-year-old American citizen with Down syndrome. He is free to stay in this country.

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