Ruby’s Story: Inclusion, Self-Advocacy, and a Future that Could Include College

Note:  October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month

Ruby stands on stage with a microphone waving to the crowd during NW Buddy Fest 2018

Ruby stands on stage with a microphone waving to the crowd during NW Buddy Fest 2018

By Maria Rangel, Ruby’s mother


My daughter Ruby and I share a love for taking pictures on our phones and capturing memories. We have hundreds of photos of things we did this summer.

One morning as she was getting ready to go to her first day of eighth grade, she asked me to print some pictures on her phone, I said “no, later when you come back from school.”

She then insisted.

“Now for school. Share,” she said.

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Oh, the Places You Will Go!

NOTE:  October is National Down Syndrome Awareness Month and Learning Disabilities/ADHD/Dyslexia Month

Emma & Dan’s Story

Emma Frome and Daniel Jarvis-Holland attending their first advocacy rally as small children

Emma Frome and Daniel Jarvis-Holland attending their first advocacy rally as small children

Emma Frome and Daniel Jarvis-Holland attended their first advocacy rally with us as small children 19 years ago in Salem, Oregon as we protested cuts to early intervention.

As our children have grown up together, we’ve worked with many others to create a powerful social change organization and to raise our children to be kind and inclusive human beings.

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