Nadia’s Story, by her mum, Diane
My daughter, Nadia is 18 years of age, and has Mosaic Down Syndrome. She was about 10 days old when it was confirmed and, if I’m honest, I was shattered, completely heartbroken and frightened. We’d never heard of Mosaic Down Syndrome and was initially told “she’s not Down’s! She’s Mosaic Down’s! It’s completely different!”
Thankfully, not long after, Dr Liz Marder visited us at home and explained everything properly! I remember my main concern was how Nadia looked! I’m ashamed to say it now, but I did not want her to look “Down’s” In my ignorance and limited knowledge, I had a pre-conceived idea of what people with Down Syndrome looked like! …
“Never judge a book by its cover”, comes to mind. But sadly most of us do at times. Ironically, later on when Nadia was older and at school, I sometimes wished she looked more “Down’s” so people would understand and be a little more forgiving, instead of labelling her stubborn, naughty and rude. Schools and Colleges have not been easy over the years.
Sadly, in our experience, support and inclusion can be so wildly interpreted. However, Nadia’s mainstream secondary school restored our faith. She received fantastic support, emotionally and academically. This resulted in her achieving 4 GCSE’s which included level 5s for her English Literature and Language (that’s a high C for people our age!) VERY PROUD PARENT MOMENT!!!
Nadia loves to sing and entertain. She has no fear of standing up in front of others! In fact, she will always be the first to volunteer herself for a solo or a leading role. As a fairly quiet individual myself (shy) I have no idea who she gets this from, but I love it! Her dream job would be to become a children’s entertainer.
Her idol is Justin Fletcher “Mr Tumble”. With George Webster now presenting on CBeebies, Nadia believes, even more, that her dream is within reach. She is extremely determined and driven when she wants something, That stubborn streak has served her well!
She is an amazing young woman – caring, kind and mostly thoughtful (mostly, except to her older brother who she challenges and tests constantly)!She is my shadow – my best friend. We have a brilliant relationship! We share the same sense of humour and, most of all, she makes the absolute best coffee ever!
