Swimming with Down-Syndrome kids

While Pool-Pal sessions took place with the Autistic kids on Mondays, Wednesdays featured sessions with the Down-syndrome kids took place on Wednesdays. I didn't start the sessions with them right away.

About the fourth session of Down-Syndrome Pool-Pals, I decided to check it out. I wanted to see what children of another disability were like. I went to the pool and watched them swim. They were having fun. They didn't seem different from Autistic or even from people with no disabilities. After the session was over, I approached the coordinator of the program and asked, "what is down syndrome?"

She explained (I'm paraphrasing) that down syndrome is the result of an individual having an extra chromosome in them. Their face becomes a bit vague-looking and like autism, there are high functioning and low functioning individuals within the spectrum. I thought it was interesting to learn that.

A couple of weeks later, I was asked if I wanted to join the sessions because a kid signed up and they needed another mentor. I accepted without hesitation.

The next session came and I was ready to go. My partner (we'll call her Rosie) was young, low-functioning, and non-verbal. I accepted that challenge because I worked with a bunch of non-verbal autistic adults by being an assistant drumming instructor over at the Kelberman Center last Spring. (More details about that in a future blog.)

I met Rosie. She was always reluctant to go in the water but with help from the coordinators, she went in and everything was fine from there. She couldn't swim on her own so I held her hand while in the water. She may not be able to speak but she can communicate. When her ear-plug fell out, she pointed to me where the ear-plug was. She also was able to shake her head no and shake her hand yes.

At the conclusion of a session, she gasped "bye" to me. That was a feel good moment.

Another young girl, let's say her name is Hailey, punk'd me. I was standing on the side of the pool at the beginning of a session, getting pumped up for the task at hand. All of a sudden, I felt something pushing me. I turned around. It was Hailey! She tried to push me in the water. Very sneaky. Later she asked me to feel if the pool was cold. I told her "nice try but I wasn't falling for it." Later, a ball fell into the pool. I tried to be a hero and grab it with my leg from the side of the pool. I was then pushed and fell into the pool. Hailey pushed me in. She finally succeeded.

It goes to show you that people with disabilities are smarter than they get credit for. That took some great strategy to never give-up, make a plan, and accomplish it.

Overall, it was a great experience. I can't wait to do it again next semester. I can't wait to do it as a career. Disabilities have abilities.