Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter
WITH A grin on her face, Roxanne Daley reached out and shook my hands. "I am the one you come to see sir," she said, while leaning forward from a chair inside Christine Rodriguez's office at the Randolph Lopez School of Hope in Elletson Flats, St. Andrew.
Roxanne's physical appearance tells you that something is wrong. Her hands are not normal and she is barely five feet tall. But not one moment passes that she forgets to smile. Not even the fact that she is has Down's syndrome.
Roxanne celebrates her 30th birthday this Thursday. But you can hardly tell she is that old. She is in a teenager's body, with a teenager's mind. And despite being intellectually disabled, or as some would put it, retarded, nothing is going to prevent Roxanne from living an almost normal life.
National recognition
"I do more work and less talk ... I love to smile and I love singing and dancing," the free-spirited woman tells The Sunday Gleaner.
Roxanne's dancing has earned her national recognition. She danced at the Very Special Arts International Festival in Belgium in 1994 and by 2003, she was doing her stuff abroad again, this time in the United States, Germany and Belgium where she partnered the internationally- acclaimed Carol Penn Erskine. Prior to that big tour, however, Roxanne performed in New York at Heartbeats of Jamaica Incorporated, the first big function where she partnered Mrs. Penn Erskine.
Those achievements have not gone unnoticed. The Institute of Jamaica has already rewarded Roxanne with the Musgrave Medal for excellence in dancing.
Those light-footed days are not over but Roxanne has hopes of helping other disabled students to excel. "I want to be a dancing teacher. I love children, I love to teach them different activities ... I love to share fun with the rest of them," says the teaching assistant who works with disabled children at Our Lady of the Angel unit for students with mental retardation.
Coincidentally, it is this school that Roxanne attended before moving to the the Elletson Flats-based Randolph Lopez unit where Ms. Rodriquez is principal.
Randolph Lopez is one of 28 locations, the nation's mentally- retarded children can get help. When The Sunday Gleaner visited the school last week, some students were being taught in normal class settings, while others were enjoying themselves doing things like sewing, woodwork and ceramics.
"We try as best as possible to make every person that comes to us functional to society," Ms. Rodriguez said while taking The Sunday Gleaner on a tour of the school. The students, who seemed enthused about what they were doing, will not all be dancers like Roxanne. However, when they leave, many will be more than capable woodworkers, dress-makers, potters and artists.
"Working with intellectually-disabled persons, we know we can bring them to a level of independence," explains Ms. Rodriguez. "It is good to see disabled persons make a contribution to society. We don't want a society that looks at disabled persons with sympathy. I don't think any disabled persons are looking for sympathy. They want understanding, they want empathy. They want a feeling of worth," she adds.
The principal tells The Sunday Gleaner Roxanne has been able to achieve because of the vast amount of love she received during her formative years.
"Those formative years that she had with her mother really made the difference in the kind of person she is today. Roxanne knows that she is loved and it is very important that parents are there for their children."
Roxanne says her mother, who died in childbirth almost 15 years ago, was a very loving woman who dedicated time and attention to her.
She can't say much about her father because he was never in the picture. It is now her aunt and cousins who oversee her activities. But she is otherwise independent, working for her own money and spending it as she likes.
And while her dream of becoming a dance teacher for the most part remains just that, the spirit of this challenged dynamo will not be dampened.
As Ms. Rodriguez puts it: "She does everything with vigour. That is the way she approaches life."
Down's syndrome fact sheet
Down's syndrome is a condition in which extra genetic material causes delays in the way a child develops, and often leads to mental retardation.
The symptoms of Down's syndrome can vary widely from child to child. While some children with Down's syndrome need a lot of medical attention, others live very healthy and independent lives.
Down's syndrome cannot be prevented but it can be detected before a child is born.
A diagnosis of mental retardation is usually obtained after a battery of tests is conducted to determine the level of intellectual ability.
Children who are deemed intellectually deficienct are placed in special education centres. At present, the school of special education caters for students ages four-20 through a network of 28 schools islandwide. The current population is over 1,520 students.
The World Health Organisation estimates that three per cent of any population will have mental retardation. Eighty-three per cent of this number are mildly affected.
