Celebrating World Down Syndrome Day 2016

I am from England, l have my Mother, my Father and they have 4 sons, I am youngest of the Family. “We are Family”

When I was 15 I locked myself in my bedroom, I was upset, when I came out I asked my dad “Why do I have Down Syndrome?”

My dad didn’t know what to say, he said it was the hardest question he had ever been asked. He told me that ” God made the world in 6 days, then there was the Sabbath and on the 8th day he realised something was missing and he created people with Down Syndrome”.

l have an amazing life. When l lived in a care home l used to meet my friend Pat in town every Saturday for drama, l need a new drama partner now, l love my friend.

Now l live in Spain and I travel all round the world….. like Reuben’s World!

Some of the things I have done so far:

Moved to Spain to live with my brother Manni

Go on tours of Andalucia with my brother

Visited Nantucket in America to stay with my brother Nathan

Had my handwriting turned into a font

Visited Norwich Cathedral to talk about them using my font in their education programme

Went on holiday to Croatia

Went on holiday to Morocco

Moved to the countryside with my brother and now we have chickens

I write this blog Reuben’s World

I raise money for charity on my blog

I even got a personal video message from one of my heros, Whoopi Goldberg, on my 30th birthday….

Some of the things I will be doing next:

Visiting the UK to see my parents

Going to St Paul’s Cathedral

My message to other people with Down Syndrome:

l have got Downs inside and not outside. Downs people are always a Gift of God! Having Down Syndrome doesn’t mean we have less of something, we have an extra chromosome which means we are extra special!

For more information about World Down Syndrome Day 2016 visit the website https://worlddownsyndromeday.org/wdsd-2016