Visions
In my never-ending quest for inspiration on the web. First, earlier this year, my stepmom told me about the Oprah Valentine's Day show that featured the young Down Syndrome couple in love. I finally decided to go looking for 'em on the web.
First I found this article, which made me laugh and cry, because EXACTLY! I have obsessed here and there about sex and Kiki. Okay, that's obviously at least 18 years down the line, but that's my point. It's 18 years down the line! As opposed to -- yeah, right. As if. I love this article.
The one thing that bothered me was when she realized this (which actually occurred to me the very first time I heard of Sujeet and Carrie because I? Am a pessimist):
The fact that these two are married is fodder for Oprah. That means this kind of thing never happens. Shit. It’s a sideshow. Carrie and Sujeet’s happily-ever-after is an aberration. An episode of Oprah; a feature in Time magazine.
I searched on, actually hoping to find the video of Oprah's interview, and found this article on Sepia Mutiny. And they point out in their article -- which, by the way, I note that MOST news articles tend NOT to mention -- that things are continuously on the upswing for people with Downs.
Carrie and Sujeet are the first generation of DS individuals to be healthy and functional enough to consider marrying. They’ve benefited from full social assimilation, new therapies, and close medical attention that mitigates the health complications of DS:
Do you know what that means? Do you know what that means? That means if I stay abreast of all the newest treatments and therapies for Kiki, then she has every chance in the world of being in the next generation of DS adults who are fully socialized and where "high-functioning" won't mean "able to dress herself" but actually "able to function normally."
And finally I found Sujeet's site. Well, actually that link goes to his proposal page. It's incredibly romantic -- I mean, it would be if I didn't have this continuing hangup that the Phantom of the Opera is creepy as hell and not romantic in the least itsy teensy little bit. But I will overlook that for the romanticism of the moment.
I don't overlook things like that for just anybody.
In the meantime, should I be doing other things besides encouraging Kiki to stick her toes in her mouth? (It makes her play with her feet; don't be judgmental.)
4 comments:
Um, I stuck my toes in my mouth until I was at least nine and I think I turned out OK. Oddly able to contort myself... but fine...
Putting one's foot into one's mouth is a skill some of us never outgrow! ;)
No no no. She doesn't do it by herself. See, at her last therapy session, the therapist noted that at 4 months, she should be playing with her feet. So I've been encouraging her to play with her feet, and at first the only way I could get her attention to them was by sticking her toes in her mouth. She gives me SUCH a look when I do it, but then she favors me by patting each foot with her hands, maybe fondling a toe or two, then she gives me another look as if to say, "Are you happy now? Are you? Can I go back to the contented gurgling which was entertaining me quite nicely before this? Or do you want to stick, I don't know, my rattle in my mouth for me next? Hmm?"
Jez,
http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=72063
Another couple who got married this summer. I have to wonder how many couples with DS are getting married and *don't* contact the news about it? Just like any wedding, I wouldn't want to turn it into a media blitz. I wonder if it's happening much more than we know and it's just private? Hopefully by the time our daughters get to that point, there won't be anything particularly newsworthy about their marriages - it'll be a special event for the family only because it's so common.
K
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