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On May 8, 1987, I gave
birth to a beautiful blonde, blue eyed, baby girl.
Minutes after she was
born, the doctor told us she had "mongolism," a term I detest to this
very day. I explained to him, that we no longer say that, but Down
Syndrome.
He told us not to
expect too much of her. She may never walk, probably won't talk, or
even play like other children. He said just to love her, for now, and
consider putting her into an institution in the future.
I said, no way, I
would raise her just like my other children.
She was the best baby
ever! She only cried when she was hungry, and hardly fussed at all. I
loved holding her and rocking her to sleep. She had a calming effect on
anyone who held her.
By the time she was 18
months old, she was walking and getting into all kinds of mischief. She
and her brother, who was 1-1/2 years older, played together constantly
and were inseparable. They seemed to learn together, although Kathy was
the more inquisitive of the two. We had learned, by this time, that
Andrew, too, was mentally challenged.
Music for Andrew had a
calming effect, but for Kathy, it was a chance to "shake her booty."
She loved to dance. Even sitting down, if a song came on that she
liked, she would wiggle, almost in time to it.
When Kathy was 3, Don
and I managed to get away for a very short three day holiday. On the
way back, we stopped at a native gift shop and bought the kids some
gifts. One for Kathy was a set of ankle bells. They were attached to
leather and you tied them to your ankles and danced. She wore them
every day for a week and danced her little heart out.
When she was about 8
years old, I tried to get her into a ballet class but was met with so
much indifference and indignation from the teacher that I gave it up.
Two years later,
another teacher opened another dance school and I met with her and asked
what she thought. She said she would love to give it a try. She didn't
know if she could teach Kathy anything but she thought it would be good
for her.
For the first year she
put Kathy in a class with typical kids.
Kathy did pretty well,
but it was evident that she could not keep up.
The next year she
started up a class for special kids. There were three young girls and
some older people from a local group home for mentally challenged
adults.
They were a hit at the
year end show! Everyone loved them, and clapped along with the music.
That same year a
friend came with her son, who is a very good dancer. He also had Down
Syndrome. The teacher invited him to be a guest dancer at the recital.
She now had a goal for Kathy.
When Kathy was 16, the
teacher decided she would do a solo at the year end recital. Kathy did
her solo and was a hit! There was not a dry eye in the place.
During the last four
years she has danced solos for the schools, and danced at a community
show. She still loves to dance and her teacher is pleased with her
progress. She has been invited to dance at the year end recital at
another dance school, and has been invited to travel to Edmonton,
Alberta, to dance at a school for special students. This will probably
happen in May or June this year.
Kathy is in college,
now, in a different town, but comes home every weekend and has a dance
lesson every Friday night. I do hope this continues, as she definitely
connects with her dance teacher.
She brings rave revues
of her dancing wherever she goes and smiles and says "thank you" to all
the compliments.
She realizes she is
different, but when it comes to her dancing, she simply dances with her
heart.
-- Glenda Townsend
<gat1127 @ yahoo.ca>
Glenda lives in
Invermere, British Columbia, Canada, with her husband. They have two
children, and Glenda has two daughters from a previous marriage. You
can email her here:
mailto:gat1127 @ yahoo.ca |
