{"id":143071,"date":"2025-09-22T12:44:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/?p=143071"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:44:47","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:44:47","slug":"gala-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/gala-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"Gala Inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Gala<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Gala Inspiration from a self-advocate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Two years ago, at our 7th Annual Generation G Gala, one of our incredible self-advocates took the stage and shared an inspiring speech. Their words captured the heart of GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison\u2014celebrating abilities, breaking down barriers, and building a community where everyone belongs. As we get ready for this year\u2019s Gala, we want to look back and share that powerful moment with you. It\u2019s a reminder of why we gather each year, and why your support makes a lasting impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maya shared “‘”with the Gala coming up in the next couple of weeks, I wanted to share some of my speech from two years ago, in hopes that you\u2019ll join us! “<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn more about how to support and attend the Generation G Gala taking place on October 10th, HERE.<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Gala Speech by Maya Greengus:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

GiGi\u2019s Playhouse is a place where everyone can socialize, learn, grow, and bring families together. It feels like a family in my own opinion, having your own group of people who you can feel happy being around.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0When I first heard of this playhouse, I was about twelve years old. The positive impact of knowing about an achievement center for people born with Down syndrome made me feel like this is my family, group of friends where I am accepted as I am for the way I\u2019m born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It inspired me to create something remarkable in 2020 during the pandemic to help lead with Sadler, a Down syndrome advocate committee, where we both provide a mentorship program for individuals to belong and to have an older role model to look up to. We asked Abby and Jen to join, because they\u00a0 are amazing individuals who have good intentions of living up to be role models to individuals. I believe it\u2019s important for individuals to connect with young adults born with Down syndrome, because hearing the words from parents of individuals, \u201cyou changed my daughter\/son\u2019s lives, you\u2019re an inspiration, you make the world a better place having role models like you\u201d\u00a0 helps us feel like we succeeded in our lives to show them to be a leader, it\u2019s honestly quite amazing to see how far they grow as the person they are today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GiGi\u2019s Playhouse in Madison provides foundational opportunities for everyone of all ages. To the parents who bring their young ones, watching them achieve well in their lives, the programs GiGi\u2019s offers are LMNOP, Special Olympics Young Athletes, Leaps & Bounds. GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison provides many programs with no cost, we just want you to come with a smile on your face and have a fun time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first started coming to GiGi\u2019s Playhouse I did yoga with my mom, now I help volunteer for events like GiGifit acceptance, went to an elementary school to talk about Down syndrome, the kids made rocks that said Generation G. I participated in some Fantastic Friends events, come to the end of year parties. What I do individually to help gain more awareness in the Down syndrome community around me is finding inspiration from other individuals by reposting on my Instagram story, I also personally make my own speech that connects to my own life by posting it on Facebook. My purpose here as an advocate is to bring more sunshine and light to many lives around me as currently right now i achieved that because I see some smiles out in the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To wrap this speech up, one final quote that I\u2019m going to leave everyone with is, \u201cThe world becomes a better place when we embrace the differences that individuals with Down syndrome bring. No matter who you are or how you\u2019re born, your arrival deserves to be celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you everyone for being here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gala Inspiration from a self-advocate Two years ago, at our 7th Annual Generation G Gala, one of our incredible self-advocates took the stage and shared an inspiring speech. Their words captured the heart of GiGi\u2019s Playhouse Madison\u2014celebrating abilities, breaking down barriers, and building a community where everyone belongs. As we get ready for this year\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":242,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1537,1490,1550,1489,1499],"tags":[905,23,336,22,1039],"class_list":["post-143071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-dsam","category-gala","category-gigis-playhouse","category-self-advocacy","tag-community","tag-down-syndrome","tag-gigisplayhouse","tag-madison","tag-nonprofit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/242"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/madison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}