{"id":89685,"date":"2021-01-24T16:15:17","date_gmt":"2021-01-24T21:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/?p=89685"},"modified":"2021-01-26T18:37:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-26T23:37:53","slug":"sharing-zoey-to-change-perceptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/down-syndrome-awareness\/sharing-zoey-to-change-perceptions","title":{"rendered":"Sharing Zoey to Change Perceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are thrilled to welcome Heather, the proud mom of Zoey to GiGi’s Blog<\/a> today!\u00a0 We asked Heather to share about Zoey and the wonderful little girl she is.\u00a0 Enjoy and be prepared to smile!<\/p>\n

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\"little<\/p>\n

Zoey came into this world pretty much the same way she lives it \u2013 with authority and on her own terms. She has always been full of surprises. She entered this world two weeks earlier than planned and within minutes of being born nurses and doctors informed that she showed markers and features of Down syndrome<\/a>, which were later confirmed with a test.<\/p>\n

It took some time for the initial shock to wear off and for me to process that life was going to be different than I had imagined, but as time passed by, Zoey continued to surprise me by showing me that life, with her and Down syndrome, wouldn\u2019t be as different as I had thought.<\/p>\n

I was told by doctors to expect delays with milestones, such as walking, talking, and simple tasks such as sitting independently or eating solid foods.<\/p>\n

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Zoey wasn\u2019t hearing any of it.<\/h2>\n

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\"babyShe has tenacity and determination all of her own and was bound and determine to not allow her diagnosis to define or limit her. Zoey was 6 months old when she sat up independently, unassisted, for the first time \u2013 but the shocker of it all is that she did so in the hospital, only three days after having open-heart surgery.<\/p>\n

She took her first steps at 11 months and was walking a little after her first birthday. She ate solid food in the same time frame as \u201ctypical\u201d children \u2013 because guess what? She is a typical child. She\u2019s a typical child who happens to also have Down syndrome \u2013 and this is what Zoey has taught me in her 5 years on this earth.<\/p>\n

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\"LittleZoey has taught me that having a diagnosis of Down syndrome is just that \u2013 a diagnosis, but at the end of the day \u2013 Zoey is Zoey; a little 5-year-old girl who is as typical as any other 5-year-old girl. Zoey is a vivacious, smart, confident, sassy, and fun 5-year-old whose mission in life is to make people smile, explore, play, and entertain anyone willing to watch her sing and dance. Life with Zoey is summed up with playgrounds, bounce houses, trampolines, dance, gymnastics, Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Moana, Elmo and friends, chicken nuggets, French fries, chippies, juice, mac and cheese, and her all-time favorite \u2013 ice cream! Zoey learned her letters and numbers at the age of 3 and is now in Kindergarten getting ready to learn how to read! She is silly and fun and has sass for days, but I wouldn\u2019t change a single thing about her because, to me, she\u2019s perfect just the way God has intended her to be.<\/p>\n

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Heather answers a few more questions for us.<\/h3>\n

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How did You learn about GiGi’s Playhouse Syracuse<\/strong>?<\/h4>\n
\u00a0Zoey’s pediatrician mentioned GiGi’s Playhouse as a place to go for support and information.<\/div>\n
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What does it mean to you to have a GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Center <\/a>in your community?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
You don’t think about the need for a Down syndrome center such as GiGi’s Playhouse until you have a child or family member diagnosed with Down syndrome. It means the world to know that you have a place to go where there are other families such as yourself, who understand your story and can relate to your experience. Don’t get me wrong, we all have our own personal successes and struggles, but to have a place to go where there’s some understanding of your situation, brings an immense amount of comfort.<\/div>\n
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What does Down syndrome advocacy mean to you? Why is it important?<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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\u00a0 \"LittleDown syndrome advocacy means everything to me; it means speaking up for my daughter’s rights and educating the world on what it truly means to have a diagnosis of Down syndrome. I advocate so that my child gets equal opportunities and treatment, just as any other child would.\u00a0 As a parent, you want your child to be happy, to be accepted, to be treated fairly – regardless of the color of their skin, their gender, their physical features, abilities, diagnosis, etc. I want the world to know that a person born with Down syndrome is an individual person first, capable of achieving anything they set their mind to and that they should never be defined or categorized because of their diagnosis. I will share Zoey’s life with the world in hopes of educating even one person that Down syndrome is not scary, but rather beautiful and completely capable of accomplishing and achieving anything.<\/div>\n
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\"little<\/div>\n
When Zoey was born I doubted her capabilities because I was ignorant. I failed to look at my child with hope and ability, but rather believe the common myths<\/a> that people with Down syndrome are incapable of learning, or leading a “normal” life. As Zoey grew she showed me that she was completely capable of hitting “typical” milestones, I was told by Doctor’s she would not achieve. I will continue to fight for Zoey to be treated with every opportunity as any other child because she is completely capable of achieving all things she desires to do.<\/div>\n
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Thank you Heather for sharing! We love learning more about Zoey!\u00a0 If you would like to share your loved one’s story we would like to connect! Please email Heather Rodriguez at hrodriguez@gigisplayhouse.org\u00a0<\/a><\/h4>\n

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Learn more about Down syndrome here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Down<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We are thrilled to welcome Heather, the proud mom of Zoey to GiGi’s Blog today!\u00a0 We asked Heather to share about Zoey and the wonderful little girl she is.\u00a0 Enjoy and be prepared to smile!   Zoey came into this world pretty much the same way she lives it \u2013 with authority and on her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":89755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[316,908],"tags":[12,64,5,912,6,913,15],"class_list":["post-89685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-down-syndrome-awareness","category-family-resources","tag-abilities","tag-acceptance","tag-down-syndrome","tag-down-syndrome-achievement","tag-down-syndrome-syracuse-new-york","tag-gigis-playhouse-down-syndrome-achievement-center","tag-syracuse-new-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/syracuse\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}