Puppy Pippin joins Downs Side Up

Before someone helpfully leaps in and tells me that dogs aren't just for Christmas, I'll explain that we have been toying with the idea of a puppy for many months. 

I favoured something large and robust. Daddy Downs Side Up thought something tiny would be easier to manage and less threatening to the girls. He was right.

3 days after Christmas a friends forwarded an ad for Chihuahuas that she had seen locally.  That, as they say, was that. And the rest, as the saying goes, is history.

The madness and travel of Christmas had passed. We were ready and the ideal dog was waiting.

Here is a *CUTE PIC KLAXON* photo of Natty meeting her dog Pippin for the first time. What has been lovliest is that she is no longer the tiniest member of the G Unit, the one who needs toiletting help and explanations of how life works. She is now explaining and dictating to the micro-puppy, who, in DS terms, is just the right size for her to manage.

Make Your Keyboard Child-friendly

All children learn to form lower case letters first. 

Children with Down's Syndrome might need to use programmes such as Clicker to assist them in the early stages of writing. They can't hope to equate the capital letters shown on a keyboard with the symbols they are learning to form themselves. 

Enter an inexpensive set of lowercase keyboard stickers. We bought ours from Amazon at around £5, but many SEN sites also sell them.

Be warned... you need a steady hand to complete the lowercasification task!

Interview with Downs Side Up on Heart Radio

If you'd like to hear Hayley from Downs Side Up, here she is talking about Down's Syndrome, extra chromosomes and life with her daughter, UK clothing model with Down's Syndrome, Natty Goleniowski. Natty is 5 and changing the face of disability. She is a real ambassador and role model for children with disabilities everywhere.

listen to ‘Cornish girl with downs models for catalogues’ on Audioboo

The face of Disability Represented in Marketing Catalogues

The beautiful face of disability in our catalogues...

The moment has arrived, the first catalogue featuring Natty is published online and will hit doormats all over the UK next week.

For us, this is hugely significant. For the first time in history, companies are saying yes to featuring children with Down's Syndrome in their marketing material. Jojo Maman Bebe too are using a little boy called Seb as well as Natty.

Of course it is only the thin end of the wedge, we want to see children using wheelchairs in instore poster campaigns, children with other disabilities in TV adverts. We don't want any company afraid to feature our children for fear of loss of sales. We have a very long way to go, but I am proud that we are here at the start, that we are making a difference. Thank you to all the families who have sent messages of support and encouragement, as well as beautiful photos of your own children. I helps to know you are all behind us.

I hope many new parents see these happy images of two sisters simply enjoying dressing up in nice clothes and having fun together, and their fears of Down's Syndrome will be dispelled. I pray other children with disabilities will come forward to model, their confidence boosted by seeing images of positive role models in the media.

For me though, the outtakes show even more of Natty's character, that she is funny, independent and witty, not simply docile, loving and musical. So here they are...

Frugi: The Outtakes!

Gorgeous Models - One with Downs Syndrome

My head is spinning with fabulous blog posts that I can't quite find the time to sit down and craft at the moment: 

Breastfeeding a baby with Down's Syndrome part 2

Tips to alleviate constipation

An observation on a mother and son with Down's I met by chance in town 

The consultant that diagnosed Natty's condition at birth revisited and re-evaluated...  

They'll all have to wait. School hols and lots of lovely house guests are taking precedent, and that's how it should be. 

We blog about life, not live through our blogs, after all.

Beauty Comes in Many Forms

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful, 

for beauty is God's handwriting -- 

a wayside sacrament.
Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every flower, 

and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

But in the meantime I'd like to share a proud little moment with you all. Seemingly frivolous perhaps, but huge for the future of Down's Syndrome, the way our children are perceived.

Today, Frugi launched their Autumn Winter '12 collection. Natty and her sister Mia are there, amongst the other beautiful models. Just 2 happy little girls having fun with others, and enjoying dressing up in pretty clothes...

Getting Natty's face into catalogues was always one branch of my idea for gently changing perceptions of Down's Syndrome, alonside the blog, media appearances and article writing. 

In one small photo, a simple shot of a girl wearing pretty clothes, lies a hugely important message. 

The message conveyed is that children with Down's Syndorme are beautiful, love gorgeous clothes, deserve to be well dressed. That they are just as important as any other child, they are capable of the same activities, enjoy life to the full, can work as clothing models, are loved by their siblings and friends. They too can woo a camera person, make a marketing team giggle and are role models for other children who see themselves represented in mainstream media for the first time.

I hope Natty has gained an immeasurable amount of confidence from being accepted as a model too. She beams from ear to ear whenever she sees her face in print.

Put simply, I hope that other beautiful small people with an extra chromosome simply look at Natty in those pages and see a girl who looks a bit like them but who doesn't really stand out at all. She is just one of the gang. She looks natural and at home amongst the others.

And that has been our family motto since the day Natty was born... she is just one of the gang.

Silent Sundays

Tooth and tears - Sunday 30th September

Natty: model, sister, daughter, friend - Sunday 23rd September

Silent Sunday - Home Ed: 'a' and 's' the kinesthetic way!

Sunday 9th September 2012

Silent Sunday - Mia's Love 2nd September 2012

Silent Sunday Natty's modelling debut with Frugi 26th August 2012

Silent Sunday Shhh, don't tell mum 19th August 2012

Silent Sunday Family volleyball 12th August 2012

Silent Sunday 29th July - Hush Little Cousin x

Silent Sunday 22nd July '12 - Sisters in the Sun

Silent Sunday 15th July '12 - Junk Robot.

Silent Sunday 8th July '12 - Cycling!

Natty, 5 - Model with Down's Syndrome

Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful, 

for beauty is God's handwriting -- 

a wayside sacrament.
Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every flower, 

and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Natty models for  Frugi

When I began writing Downs Side Up some 6 months ago, my motivation was partly to show the world that children with Down's Syndrome are utterly beautiful, certainly not to be feared and deserve a place in the heart of our communities, where they can live in a fully integrated way and give so much back to those around them.  I wanted to uplift and inspire new parents, show them the possibilities, give them courage.

I began thinking of a many-pronged approach to reach this aim and the blog became the hub or core from which all other threads emerged.  Then came Downs Side Up on Facebook, more recently we've been getting our voice heard on Twitter @downssideup and laterly on Pinterest.  It has been amazing to meet so many like-minded, inspirational parents here, but my thoughts soon turned to how I could preach to those who were not already converted.

I started thinking that our childrens' beautiful faces should be visible in everyone's lives, popping up in catalogues, magazines, on TV, ads even, another facet of globally accepted beauty.  
I started writing to companies and model agencies, 2 or 3 a night every night, asking for their support.  Several were very supportive but politely said Natty was not 'chocolate box perfect' enough.  Others ignored my emails completely.  But a special few replied immediately with an open-armed 'yes'.  Frugi organic kids clothing was the first, the other was Scott Dunn Travel and then came Jojo Maman Bebe, who coincidentally use several models with Down's Syndrome and are proud to be inclusive employers also.

Modelling wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but little show-off Natty is a natural in front of the camera.  At our first Frugi shoot she began posing before we had even changed her out of her school uniform!  Highlights of the afternoon were a vigorous game of kiss-chase with a male 3yr old model, (Natty was to be heard called 'come here and kiss me now!'), stroking the photographer's stubbly beard (No, that wasn't me. Honestly.), and dancing with a cardboard owl (what a hoot!).  

After this, national paper The Sun, online publications such as The Mail Online, our local radio station, Bella Magazine and even ITV show Daybreak wanted to share the story of a little girl with Down's Syndrome taking the modelling world by storm...well, turning it on its head anyway.  With each published and broadcast story, Natty clearly shouted from the rooftops that Down's Syndrome is to be embraced, loved and accepted.

Natty's agent Alison Smith-Squire 
writes about how the 
Downs Side Up word is spreading

Of course, all parents of children like Natty know why they are so beautiful.  It isn't simply the packaging on the outside that makes them so, although their delicate features apparently echo those of the perfect dainty doll.  No, it is something that radiates from within their souls, their innocent hearts, that 'live for the moment' Joie de Vivre, that being utterly absorbed by every activity they take part in, giving everyone they choose to interact with their undivided attention and that born desire to be the centre of attention.  Or is that just Natty...?

Also read The Photo Gallery of Hope
The Face of Disability in Marketing
Gorgeous Models: One with Down's Syndrome