ELLA

PHOTO BY RANDY BACON

ELLA

“We See Her As Human”

I want people to know how fun I am to hang out with. I like the same things other 14-year-old girls like: make-up, shopping at Target, boys, music, dancing and junk food. I like to film and create with friends and family about cooking, traveling, and make-up.

Having Down syndrome is tough sometimes because it affects my hearing and I have to wear hearing aids. I hate having to take them out and not being able to hear what’s going on. It’s also harder to find friend groups that will accept me and invite me places. Everyone around me moves faster and I can’t always keep up at their pace. I always have to tell my mom to slow down.

My goals are to graduate from high school and go to college. I’d love for my cooking and interest in food to reach more people through YouTube or even Food Network so that other people with challenges in their lives can see that if I can do it, they can too.

KEVIN AND JENNY (Ella's Parents)

When Ella was in preschool, we were notified about a problem. She had kicked a teacher. At home, we asked Ella about the incident and she denied it. We sent her to timeout. After a few minutes we quizzed her again and once again she denied it. After denying it a third time, she received a lengthy lecture about the dangers of lying. She began to cry. She was given one more chance to tell the truth. “Ella, did you kick one of your teachers?” Through the tears, she protested, “But I didn’t kick one of my teachers, I kicked both of them.” We often return to this story as the quintessential Ella story—a little stubborn, a lot smart, and always with a twist of funny.

If Ella were to ask how we see her, it would be much different than the days after she was born. When Ella was born, she looked perfect to us—especially her little button nose. But in the hours to come we would learn of the diagnosis, and in the days that followed we struggled to understand what the future might hold.

But 14 years later, one word describes Ella—human. Some view persons with special needs as less than human. They see the diagnosis and assume her to be more limited than she is. They underestimate her. Others view her as more angelic than she is. They see the diagnosis and assume a perfection that is not real. But we see her as human — loving, kind, compassionate, stubborn, manipulative, and a thousand things in-between.