McFarlane accompanies Grace and her family to the World Down Syndrome Congress in Vancouver in August 2006. She has a typical reaction to being immersed in the conference setting. “…here Grace is the norm and Jessica and I are not.”…
Monthly Archives: October 2019
Q15: Writing With Grace
McFarlane and her daughter witness a frightening incident in a department store. A young woman with Down syndrome appeared to be having a behavioral episode. Afterward McFarlane reminisces about her feelings during the event. “Why had those words – She’s…
Q14: Writing With Grace
Q 17. McFarlane talks about attending the Canadian Down Syndrome Conference in 2011. In a session moderated by Gail Williamson (the disability community’s top talent agent) she meets Gail’s son Blair and Lauren Potter, two actors who have Down syndrome. …
Q13: Writing With Grace
The story Grace is writing focuses on an imaginary cross between herself and Cinderella. In it, Cinderella-Grace gets married, goes on her honeymoon, and has three children. Her writing seems to show how she wishes her life could be. When…
Posted in Writing With Grace Tagged with: birth control, guardianship, medical, medical care, obstetrics, self-advocacy
Q12: Writing With Grace
One of my favorite moments in the book is a fully dramatic show of self-advocacy: “Russell walked out into the hall and lay down on the floor. The teacher called the principal, and when he arrived Russell looked up at…
Q11: Writing With Grace
Part Three: My Real Truth Unfortunately, Grace had a lonely high school experience. It’s a story that we hear all too often. McFarlane interviews her “one good friend.” “As Samara tells me about her friendship with Grace, I’m struck by…
Q10: Writing With Grace
McFarland explores some disability theory and tries to understand her own thoughts through a disability studies lens. “And how does this relate to me? Am I afraid that like Grace, I’ll be seen as someone who can never be a…
Q9: Writing With Grace
McFarland tells three birth stories, including her own daughter’s. “My prayers, such as they were, were answered. Even though at my age, the chances of having a baby with Down syndrome had increased to 1 out of 125 (from 1…
Q8: Writing With Grace
“The first thing was to rescue them from loneliness, to give them some companionship…to surround them with the influences of art and nature, to bring some joy to their lives, to stimulate them, to make them think.” P. 35 (Langston…
