Craig Blackburn has a motto by which he lives.
“Never give up. That’s my message. Never give up,” he said. “If you have fears don’t look back, look ahead.”
That is a message the 34-year-old Hahnville High School graduate has been carrying through his entire life, and Blackburn has had to overcome a lot. He was born with Down syndrome as well as a heart defect that had to be repaired through open heart surgery when he was an infant.
Now, Blackburn has been able to accomplish so much that he has become an advocate for others with disabilities.
He is on the board of the Down Syndrome Association of Greater New Orleans and regularly travels the region and country giving speeches to educators and those within the disabled community. In recent years, he spoke to a crowd of 1,300 at Tulane University and also traveled to Qatar to give a speech.
“It’s about educators and families and their child’s future to tell them they can do it and not to give up on their dreams. When I do my presentation it is like making them believe what they can do and don’t look back,” he said.
