Kent State Student Excels Despite Down Syndrome

from Kent Patch by Kelsey Misbrener:

Megan Rothermel has never let the word “no” stop her from achieving academic success and independence. And she hears the word a lot.
No, she can’t learn Spanish because she has Down syndrome.
No, she can’t be independent because she has diabetes.
But to all the doubters, the short, pony-tailed 23-year-old says, “Watch me.”

Academic ups and downs
The first trial came in kindergarten when Megan’s mother, DeeOnda, tried to enroll her in the Garrettsville school system. The system’s policy said no students with multiple disabilities could attend. They were instead sent to Ravenna schools, which were better equipped for disabled students.
But Ravenna was far away. DeeOnda wanted Megan to go to school with her neighbors so she could make friends close to home. After DeeOnda debated with the Garrettsville school staff, they finally agreed to accept Megan.
She became the first multiple-disability student at the school, and she still talks to her best friend she met in kindergarten.
“Every time we started school, every year, the teachers would be real hesitant about having her in their classroom,” DeeOnda said.
The teachers thought Megan would require a lot of extra work on their part. DeeOnda said it was mainly the Down syndrome that worried them. “And probably ‘cause of my health issue too,” Megan, who’d been silent, adds softly.
Before 1975, students with multiple disabilities were rarely sent to school at all. Many were housed in mental institutions until the Education of the Handicapped Act forced public schools to create special intervention and education programs for the disabled, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Though teachers had their doubts about Megan, she said she exceeded their expectations.
“The only downfall I had is math. But science, history, language … I excelled in. I got A’s,“ Megan said triumphantly.
In high school, Megan took regular education classes — except for one special education class in English.
Because she didn’t take regular English she couldn’t take a class she was interested in: spanish. School policy dicatated students had to pass the regular English class to take a foreign language.
“So mom said that was okay, and we went and got (Spanish) CD’s, and I taught myself Spanish,” Megan said matter-of-factly.
Along with the tapes, she got some help from the Spanish teacher, Anna Stamolis. Anna said she met Megan after substituting in the special education room.

“She’d always say, ‘I wanna learn to speak Spanish,’” Anna said. So Anna gave Megan a Spanish book to study on her own. She soon found out Megan had a great memory and could learn Spanish words and sentences with ease.
“And I would see the Spanish teacher in the hallway and I would speak to her in Spanish, and then the teacher really liked me; liked how I spoke to her, and invited me to be in her class,” Megan said, grinning.
School administrators made an exception to their rule and let Megan take Spanish.
“I would put the kids to shame because she’d get a 95 or 96 percent on her tests and kids in regular (education) couldn’t do that,” Anna said.

People with Down syndrome have proven quite adept at understanding information, but they often struggle to express the knowledge they’ve retained, according to the National Down Syndrome Society. They have trouble processing information and then focusing attention on one task. Megan’s been taking classes and improving her Spanish for five years.
“I can say, “Hola, muy bien, y tu?” Megan brags, rolling her R’s. She’s also taken two semesters of American Sign Language through Kent State University’s Career and Community Services program for the intellectually disabled. Those classes prepared her for an unexpected opportunity. She got to sign the national anthem at last December’s Special Olympics.
“I stood in front of everybody,” Megan proudly announced.
And she plans on taking Greek next semester.

Breaking away
Megan is 23, but her unpredictable diabetes makes her rely on her mother to help her when her blood sugar is high or low.
She contracted Type 1 Diabetes when she had chicken pox in kindergarten. Her antibodies tried to kill the virus, but instead they unintentionally killed part of her pancreas. The organ stopped producing insulin, and she had to start injecting herself with insulin to regulate her blood sugar.
She must figure out exactly how many carbs she’ll ingest before every meal of the day. For every 15 carbs, she must inject two units of insulin. Megan’s math skills are lacking, so she has to call her mother every time she eats to calculate how much insulin to take.
Even if she painstakingly keeps track of her diet, her blood sugar sometimes still drops or rises for apparently no reason at all. In the past, her mother or high school aids were always around to help her. Now that she’s taking college courses and spending more time on her own she must watch it herself. Not all by herself, though; her best friend Kelsy Hodgkinson is usually there to throw her a sugary treat or tell her to take an insulin shot to bring her back to normal.
Kelsy said Megan starts to yawn and get grumpy when her sugar start to plummet. Kelsy then makes sure Megan eats sugary food to raise it back to normal. If Megan’s sugar is extremely low, Kelsy calls DeeOnda to come and take Megan to the emergency room. Sometimes Kelsy has to call DeeOnda during class.
Once, Kelsy noticed Megan was becoming irritable. She saw Megan reaching for her tube of mini M&M’s, but she knew her fine motor skills weren’t the best because of Down syndrome. Kelsey jumped up, grabbed the tube, ripped the plastic case off, and handed Megan some chocolates.

On her own
Megan’s also ready for another kind of independence.
“She’s got a boyfriend now,” DeeOnda slyly admits.
“Thanks, mom” Megan replied sarcastically — with a hint of excitement.
Megan met her 6-foot tall, brown-haired boyfriend Brad Bohrer in Kent State’s CCS program.
“He came up to me and said, ‘I’m gonna marry Megan,’” DeeOnda said. “I said, ‘You are? Does she know this?’ He said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘Well Brad, don’t you think you ‘oughta tell her?’”
So Brad told her, and they started dating. Megan brings Brad into the conversation whenever she can, whether it’s mooning over the flowers and stuffed animals he’s given her or giggling about his Michael Jackson-esque dance moves.
“They’re talkin’ about getting married. But it’s not gonna happen ‘til they’re out of school,” DeeOnda said.
“Thanks mom,” Megan grumbled.
So far, they’ve been to the mall, movies and dinner. Though their parents must drive them to dates because neither of them have a driver’s license, Megan’s still hopeful the two of them can live by themselves one day. Even if that means living one driveway from her family’s home. The Rothermels own a guest home in their cul-de-sac, which they’ll give to Megan once she’s ready to move out.
Still, Megan won’t be able to enjoy a traditional family life. Her depleted pancreas can’t support a pregnancy.
“He wants to have five kids, but I’m a diabetic and I can’t put my body through it,” Megan said.
Brad told her he would much rather sacrifice having a baby rather than put Megan’s life in jeopardy.
“So, we switched from five kids to five dogs,” Megan said with a grin.
“I’m okay with the dogs,” DeeOnda chuckled.

actor with Down syndrome tackles Hamlet

from This is Cornwall:

A theatre company is to stage Shakespeare's Hamlet at the Minack Theatre with a Down's Syndrome actor taking the title role for the very first time.

Tommy Jessop, pictured, whose work includes a lead role in the BAFTA-nominated Coming Down The Mountain on BBC television, is touring with Blue Apple Theatre, one of the leading disability arts companies in the south which creates opportunities for actors with learning disabilities to perform in mainstream productions.

The play is being staged at Porthcurno's Minack on Saturday, May 12, at 7.30pm and will continue its tour across 12 UK locations.

Jane Jessop, founding director of Blue Apple Theatre in Winchester, said Hamlet was chosen as "the ultimate Shakespeare play" that would challenge both the cast and audience.

"All that actors with learning disabilities can mostly get is a supporting role so to put someone like Tommy with Down's Syndrome on stage as Hamlet, one of the highest profile roles in the whole of world literature, is extremely exciting.

"Watching it is like seeing a miracle, knowing what the prognosis is for people when they're born with Down's Syndrome and how so little is expected of them," she added.

"Shakespeare speaks to us all. I believe this will be extremely thought-provoking, powerful and utterly moving and we will all, cast and audiences, gain something wonderful from this production," said Jane.

The actors at Blue Apple Theatre have a range of disabilities, such as autism, including Asperger Syndrome, Down's Syndrome and behavioural difficulties. The discipline, challenge and excitement of learning lines, rehearsing and putting on a play helps them to develop new skills and increase their self-esteem, confidence and independence.

Blue Apple's Hamlet has been adapted by scriptwriter and film-maker William Jessop, 29, who has shortened the 210-minute play to just 70 minutes, without losing the key elements of the drama.

He said: "I've kept Shakespeare's original language, so the key challenge has been to work closely with each actor to make sure they understand and own everything they're saying and make each part their own."

Tommy, 27, who has featured in Casualty, Holby City and in afternoon plays on BBC Radio 4, said that Hamlet was his most difficult role to date.

"Learning the lines has been challenging, as Hamlet's in almost every other scene, and there's a range of emotions to put across. There's a bit of sadness, a bit of happiness and a bit of anger," he added.

To book tickets, phone the Minack on 01736 810181 or visit http://www.minack.com/

Girl's Dream Comes True At Local Prom

from KVIA ABC-7 by Jennifer Myers:

Carolann Nunez is a Special Olympics gold medalist. She has also won second place in a national Glamor Shots contest. But the one thing Nunez really wanted to accomplish was being crowned prom queen at Americas High School.

Girl's Dream Comes True At Local Prom - News Story - KVIA El Paso

Her friends and family came together to make last Saturday's prom a truly memorable moment for Nunez. They made posters, tweeted to encourage voters and even spread the word on Facebook to help boost her numbers.

"Carolann has dreamed of being prom queen for years and years. She's watched Disney movies with prom queens getting crowned. For years and years she's always wanted to be prom queen," said her father, Michael Nunez.

Carolann Nunez has Down Syndrome. But that hasn't stopped her from achieving what many high school girls see as the epitome of high school accolades, something she says she couldn't have done without her friends and family. "So proud of them. My parents helped me make a dream come true," said Nunez.

ABC-7 spoke with a few Americas students, many of whom said they were touched by Nunez's kind heart and warm spirit. "She's the happiest person in the world. She's so energetic and full of life. She's the sweetest person on earth," said Americas senior Gabrielle Roper. "Every day when I see her, she's always really happy. She says hi to everybody. She's really friendly," said prom king Brian Contreras.

Nunez picked out a pink sparkly dress for the big occasion, and her father went as her date.

After she was crowned, the screams and cheers that followed after she was crowned showed just how much her fellow students cared.

After the prom king and queen dance, she ran up to one of her biggest supporters.

"She said, 'Daddy, I did it!' and gave me a great big hug," said her father.

ABC-7 asked her father what he would say if he could speak to all of the students that voted for Nunez. "Thank you to the student body. Their caring and acceptance of Carolann has just been fantastic. All the thanks in the world goes out to them for making her dream come true."

Jon Will's gift

from the Washington Post by George F. Will:

When Jonathan Frederick Will was born 40 years ago — on May 4, 1972, his father’s 31st birthday — the life expectancy for people with Down syndrome was about 20 years. That is understandable. The day after Jon was born, a doctor told Jon’s parents that the first question for them was whether they intended to take Jon home from the hospital. Nonplussed, they said they thought that is what parents do with newborns. Not doing so was, however, still considered an acceptable choice for parents who might prefer to institutionalize or put up for adoption children thought to have necessarily bleak futures. Whether warehoused or just allowed to languish from lack of stimulation and attention, people with Down syndrome, not given early and continuing interventions, were generally thought to be incapable of living well, and hence usually did not live as long as they could have.

Down syndrome is a congenital condition resulting from a chromosomal defect — an extra 21st chromosome. It causes varying degrees of mental retardation and some physical abnormalities, including small stature, a single crease across the center of the palms, flatness of the back of the head, a configuration of the tongue that impedes articulation, and a slight upward slant of the eyes. In 1972, people with Down syndrome were still commonly called Mongoloids.

Now they are called American citizens, about 400,000 of them, and their life expectancy is 60. Much has improved. There has, however, been moral regression as well.

Jon was born just 19 years after James Watson and Francis Crick published their discoveries concerning the structure of DNA, discoveries that would enhance understanding of the structure of Jon, whose every cell is imprinted with Down syndrome. Jon was born just as prenatal genetic testing, which can detect Down syndrome, was becoming common. And Jon was born eight months before Roe v. Wade inaugurated this era of the casual destruction of pre-born babies.

This era has coincided, not just coincidentally, with the full, garish flowering of the baby boomers’ vast sense of entitlement, which encompasses an entitlement to exemption from nature’s mishaps, and to a perfect baby. So today science enables what the ethos ratifies, the choice of killing children with Down syndrome before birth. That is what happens to 90 percent of those whose parents receive a Down syndrome diagnosis through prenatal testing.

Which is unfortunate, and not just for them. Judging by Jon, the world would be improved by more people with Down syndrome, who are quite nice, as humans go. It is said we are all born brave, trusting and greedy, and remain greedy. People with Down syndrome must remain brave in order to navigate society’s complexities. They have no choice but to be trusting because, with limited understanding, and limited abilities to communicate misunderstanding, they, like Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” always depend on the kindness of strangers. Judging by Jon’s experience, they almost always receive it.

Two things that have enhanced Jon’s life are the Washington subway system, which opened in 1976, and the Washington Nationals baseball team, which arrived in 2005. He navigates the subway expertly, riding it to the Nationals ballpark, where he enters the clubhouse a few hours before game time and does a chore or two. The players, who have climbed to the pinnacle of a steep athletic pyramid, know that although hard work got them there, they have extraordinary aptitudes because they are winners of life’s lottery. Major leaguers, all of whom understand what it is to be gifted, have been uniformly and extraordinarily welcoming to Jon, who is not.

Except he is, in a way. He has the gift of serenity, in this sense:
The eldest of four siblings, he has seen two brothers and a sister surpass him in size, and acquire cars and college educations. He, however, with an underdeveloped entitlement mentality, has been equable about life’s sometimes careless allocation of equity. Perhaps this is partly because, given the nature of Down syndrome, neither he nor his parents have any tormenting sense of what might have been. Down syndrome did not alter the trajectory of his life; Jon was Jon from conception on.

This year Jon will spend his birthday where every year he spends 81 spring, summer and autumn days and evenings, at Nationals Park, in his seat behind the home team’s dugout. The Phillies will be in town, and Jon will be wishing them ruination, just another man, beer in hand, among equals in the republic of baseball.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers open to being Romney's VP

from USA Today by Catalina Camia:

The only woman in the House Republican leadership team reportedly is open to being Mitt Romney's running mate and would like to see a woman on the ticket.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., vice chairwoman of the House GOP Conference, acknowledged her interest in being Romney's No. 2 in an interview with National Review. She was first elected to the House in 2005.

She said she's not "seeking" to be picked -- and even admirers say she's a long shot -- and wants Romney to choose a conservative and, if possible, a woman.

"Republican women bring an important voice to the table," McMorris Rodgers is quoted as saying. "The big issues that face this country right now — the economy, jobs, the debt, and health care — are on the forefront of people's minds, and especially on women's minds."

The veepstakes have begun in earnest and have taken on the aura of a reality TV show. As USA TODAY's Susan Page reports today, some of Romney's potential running mates are making big speeches, promoting books and are essentially doing "tryouts" in joint appearances with the presumptive GOP nominee.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who is sometimes mentioned as a potential VP choice, was on the campaign trail yesterday with Romney. Her stock went up today on Intrade, where she's now given a 4.4% chance of being the nominee. (Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman are tops on Intrade.)