31 for 21 - Day Thirteen

" Think of me first as a person who hurts and loves and feels joy,”
--Dwight Core Sr.

My favorite child.

Dwight Core, Jr. the fifth child of the Core family and their first son.  This is a documentary that was made from home videos and current day filming that now resides in the Library of Congress.

The home movie, "Think of Me First as a Person," portrays the love a boy with Down syndrome shares with his four sisters, but also a heartache common to the era's disabled: leaving home for an institution.

I was born a few years after Dwight Core, Jr.  It breaks my heart to think of the society I was born into and how children with disabilities were encouraged to be placed into institutions.  We have come a long way in North America.

That is not so in other parts of our world.  I have dear friends who are working with those societies that place their children with disabilities into orphanages at birth and sadder yet, these children are destined to horrible institutions if they are not adopted by a certain age.  They are working tirelessly to change those society’s perceptions.  A daunting task, but one I know can change, as look at how far we have come as a society.

This is a must watch……..

Part One Part Two