{"id":17433,"date":"2020-10-15T13:08:33","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T18:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/?p=17433"},"modified":"2020-10-15T13:08:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T18:08:33","slug":"introducing-erin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/2020\/10\/15\/introducing-erin\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Erin"},"content":{"rendered":"

My name is Erin E. Mallicoat and I\u2019m from Northbrook, Illinois. I\u2019m 21 years old and I have one older brother, two of the sweetest dogs in the wo\"\"rld, and I live with my awesome mom and dad! At the age of 2<\/span>, I was diagnosed with Down Syndrome and Turner Syndrome. Even though I was held back in preschool, I have\u00a0<\/span>accomplished SO MUCH in my life advocating for those with special needs like me!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>At the age of 10, on the invitation by the late Marca Bristo (Rest in Power, shoutout to her!!) and Access Living, me and my d<\/span>ad were invited to the White House in DC to celebrate the 20<\/span>th<\/span>\u00a0Anniversary of the signing of the ADA<\/span>\u00a0to meet President Obama when he was still our president. Marca Bristo announced me as a future leader of the ADA, and I got to shake Obama\u2019s hand! When I was just a freshman in high school, I was invited to the Access Living Gala when they awarded former\u00a0<\/span>President Bill Clinton the Lead\u00a0<\/span>On<\/span>\u00a0Award (an award they give out\u00a0<\/span>to those who have helped those with special needs, I don\u2019t really know how to explain it! But that\u2019s the best explanation I can give!) A few years later, I was invited with the Adult Down Syndrome Center<\/span>\u00a0to go to\u00a0<\/span>Springfield<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>to he<\/span>lp declare Adult Down Syndrome Awareness Day in the<\/span>\u00a0state of Illinois<\/span>! When that happened, I ended up in my high school\u2019s newspaper, ended up in the District 225 pamphlet AND in my town\u2019s newspap<\/span>er!! I was even awarded with a certificate from Springfield<\/span>\u00a0honoring me for doing so! That was some of the most amazing memories I will always carry on for the rest of my life!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the age of 19, I was admitted into the P.A.C.<\/span>E at<\/span>\u00a0National Louis University program! There, I\u2019m learning how to \"\"manage my own\u00a0<\/span>life style<\/span>, live independently, handle money independently,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and find a good steady paying job at the end of my college years<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>I am also an actress, singer and songwriter! At the age of 7 or 8, I became a part of Special Gifts Theater, which is a theater organization that supports those with all sorts of disabilities!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>I left after my high school\u00a0<\/span>graduation and<\/span>\u00a0came back this year<\/span>\u00a0while taking my gap year from PACE. At Special Gifts, I discovered my singing talent and ended up in my middle school<\/span>\u00a0choir and later went on to my high school choir until my sophomore year. When I was a freshman in high school, I discovered my songwriting talent. I have wr<\/span>itten<\/span>\u00a0many, many originals probably more than 20!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"I even write my own stories, and I am currently writing my own Star Wars story<\/span>\u00a0(very, very much obsessed with Star Wars!)<\/span>\u00a0about the secret daughter of Anakin Skywalker named Queen Evelyna\u00a0<\/span>Nessalla<\/span>. It\u2019s the story<\/span>\u00a0of her journey of becoming a jedi and becoming the Queen of the Galaxy. It\u2019s also abo<\/span>ut how anything is possible since she\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0very, very different than any other jedi<\/span>\u00a0and has gone through so much in her\u00a0<\/span>life<\/span>, and<\/span>\u00a0finds her way into the world again. Evelyna\u00a0<\/span>Nessalla<\/span>\u00a0Skywalker is\u00a0<\/span>based off o<\/span>f me in a way, since I went down a dark path myself when<\/span>\u00a0I was<\/span>\u00a0in a bad relationship for the first 2 and a half years at PACE<\/span>\u00a0and got myself out of it in February of this year.\u00a0<\/span>It has been such a dream of mine to publish it and bring it on to the big\u00a0<\/span>screen and<\/span>\u00a0become a famous worldwide singer around the world. If I did, it would show how anything is possible for someone that has a disability like me,<\/span>\u00a0and I want to be an icon to show how anyone can do anything!\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My name is Erin E. Mallicoat and I\u2019m from Northbrook, Illinois. I\u2019m 21 years old and I have one older brother, two of the sweetest dogs in the world, and I live with my awesome mom and dad! At the age of 2, I was diagnosed with Down Syndrome and Turner Syndrome. Even though I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":17434,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/deerfield\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}