‘i have a voice’ opens today; Offers new look at people with Down syndrome

From the Lake Zurich [Illinois] Courier and Pioneerlocal.com, Sun Times Media Group:

Nancy Gianni was stunned when the principal at her daughter’s suburban Chicago school called her in to say that GiGi was making the parents of other students uncomfortable. Gigi, then in preschool, has Down syndrome.

“They said she had done nothing wrong,” Gianni said. “She simply wears her diagnosis on her face and that was enough for these parents to be concerned.”

… What these parents were failing to see was the social, smart and independent child GiGi actually is. She got along with others, could already spell some words and didn’t need any help in the bathroom. But Gianni … realized it wasn’t just these parents who failed to see beyond the physical signs of a genetic disorder.

Gianni teamed up with photographer Thomas Balsamo to create a traveling exhibit of portraits to introduce the public to people with Down syndrome. The exhibit opens today at the Ela Area Public Library in Lake Zurich, Illinois, and will be on display during the month of March.

Balsamo had previously published a book of photographs called Souls: Beneath and Beyond Autism, which won the Autism Society of America’s 2003 Literary Work of the Year.

Gianni, founder of GiGi’s Playhouse, was named a 2008 Chicagoan of the year by Chicago Magazine. Main story here.

(Photo of GiGi by Thomas Balsamo, from pioneerlocal.com)

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 1st, 2009 at 3:21 pm and is filed under arts/music, NOT2BEMISSED, personal stories, public attitudes, stigma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.