You have to wonder why we throw around words like “disability” and “handicapped.” Who is to say what a person can and cannot do before we’ve even watched them grow just because they were born a bit different than the average person? We’ve seen those with Down syndrome told that they can’t sing, we’ve seen them abandoned by their own mothers. Yet every day, those very same people prove those awful stereotypes wrong.
Meet Tim from Albuquerque, for example. Tim is the only restaurant owner in the United States with Down syndrome. Now, I bet you know that there are tons of people without Down syndrome who wouldn’t know where to begin when it comes to running their own business. Yet Tim’s restaurant has thrived for the last five years. That is until Tim announced that it would be closing. Customers and employees alike were left in tears. Tim’s Place had become a local staple. Tim was onto greater things. He fell in love with Tiffani Johnson. Tim decided to move to Denver and marry Tiffani. He plans on opening up a restaurant there.
“[When I look into her eyes], I see love. I see joy. And I see that I have a future here,” Tim told CBS’ Steve Hartman.
Tim and Tiffani’s story is as sweet as anything you’d see in any romance film. Boy falls in love with girl and lives happily ever after. Yet too often, we don’t see folks with Down syndrome cast in those parts. Some might say that’s not realistic, but Tim and Tiffani tell a different story.
No comments:
Post a Comment