Spotlight Interview: Soraya

Soraya has been one of our most consistently attending participants. She is a writer, an avid reader, a coffee enthusiast, and a woman with Down syndrome. After becoming familiar with Fantastic Friends and Open Play, she has decided to begin her volunteer journey with GiGi’s Playhouse Portland! What follows is a brief interview exploring Soraya’s take on open-mindedness, creativity, and embracing one’s own identity. 

First question isn’t really a question. Tell me three good things about you. 

Okay, three things about myself… One is that I am very open to coming up with compromises, trying to seek other people’s insights. I am very innovative. I think it’s the same thing as being creative, innovative in everything I do. I like to see and explore many different things, because I’m open to other people’s ideas and supporting them. I think about the needs of others, not just myself. I am very compassionate, kind person. I’m very open to talking with people. 

What’s something small you were creative with recently? 

Something small I’ve created… This is hard. Maybe it would be something like… adding new pins to my Pinterest account. Next time I checked my Pinterest, I had all these different followers. At first, I didn’t have any followers at all, or thought that anyone would notice, but now I have 200-something followers on Pinterest, so I’m going with it. 

Tell me one thing you have learned over your lifetime. 

Be true to who I am, which is my identity. Not just Down syndrome, but like, I’ve learned to understand myself more as I get older. Even though there are a lot of these things that were not told to me when I was young, I wish I knew them back then, but I’ve started to learn who I am as a person and embracing it. If I could embrace being a writer, or the fact that I have Down syndrome, I am embracing my identity, not just part of me, but all of me. I’m from a multicultural family, and if I didn’t embrace that, I’d be pretending to be someone I’m not. They always say get rid of negative energy, or whatever does not serve me, just push it aside. But being true to myself and who I am as a person, who I am meant to be on this Earth. 

What is something that used to be hard for you, but is easy now? 

Used to be hard, and now easy. So many different things. Struggling with Down syndrome, actually. That’s a huge one. What’s now easy is I moved, and now it’s like, no one really knows me, and I kinda like that. I would like to have people know me over time, but I think at this time that I’m happy that I don’t have to explain myself to people or tell them my whole life story. I can just be. Just be who I am, and that’s enough. Kinda what I’ve learned is that I am exactly where I’m supposed to be, just be. Be grounded, present, feel it in my body, is kind of like, what is now easy. It’s a constant obstacle every day for the rest of my life, but it makes it so much easier to just be. If it wasn’t for certain communities I belong to now, I wouldn’t have done it without them. They showed me what it’s like to be part of something greater than myself, and now I can show people who I am over time. It’s gonna take years. 

If someone wanted to come to GiGi’s Playhouse, but was scared, what would you tell them? 

A lot of people would avoid that feeling. But it’s okay to be scared, I was scared, it’s sort of relieving because there are people out there going through the same things. Not the same things, but knowing people have been through it, you can be a part of a very open, nonjudgmental community, and they have a home for you. You’re being supported no matter what. This all goes back to love and belonging, and that’s what every person needs. Love is the most powerful thing on this planet, and we need to embrace it. If you hide your feelings, you’re not really embracing it. It’s better to be open with people you love and understand that this is normal.