 Hi everyone! Thank you all for coming and joining us as we celebrate Disability Awareness Month. It is my absolute honor to introduce to you today's speaker, Devin Ailman. I'm so excited to be a part of her journey here at Highline College because Devin is a new student and a chief pursuing her interest in a career in marine biology. Today she's going to share with you more about her path to higher education and some of the unique and amazing opportunities that she's had along the way. At the end, she is going to welcome your questions. So if you're thinking of things that you want to know more about during the presentation, drop those down in the comments down below. It's going to be happy to answer those questions for you. So please join me in listening to Devin's journey to higher education and how important it is for us all to remember how our beliefs and attitudes help to shape each other's dreams and their master's dreams. Thank you Julie. Hi everyone. I'm so glad that you came today. I am Devin Ailman. I am a first year student in the Archive program here at Highline. First I thought I would take the opportunity to talk about Down syndrome. October is National Down Syndrome acceptance month. How many of you know what Down syndrome is? I happen to know a lot about Down syndrome. Down syndrome is a genetic condition. You cannot get Down syndrome. It is not contagious. You have to be born with it. It is an esoteric copy of the 21st chromosome. So I have three copies where most of you only have two. It has been around as long as history has been around. It is a syndrome that means there are a lot of traits that are common in Down syndrome, but not everyone has all the traits. Just like the general population, there are a lot of differences. Everyone is unique. People with Down syndrome are people. Not kids forever. Some traits are beautiful eyes, short of height, flexible joints, low muscle tone, low end differences, childhood leukemia, Alzheimer's, very little adult cancer, and finally very little heart disease. New opportunities. Access to education, improved quality of life, employment, infant living, marriage, and longer lives, increased by 40 years since the 70s. Questions about Down syndrome. I'm an expert and so is my mom. So on to beating odds and my journey to higher education. First, it starts with my family, because my family always believes in me with high expectations, and they will also be there to support me anyway, and just let me try and try again. And then my teachers also believe in me, because at my 3M medical school, I was included in academics, sports, and drama. Inclusion has been shown to help everyone learn better. Nathan Hale High School. We worked with Nathan Hale to have a great high school experience in and out of the classroom. And finally, my friends believe in me. At every stage of life so far, I am determined. Ever since I was little, I have loved the ocean. I have been to a lot of aquariums and wanted to work in marine biology. So I needed to continue my education, starting with finishing high school. For my final year in high school, I had to choose a project. And I chose public speaking and advocacy. It turned into an unexpected journey. First, I spoke at Seattle Children's Hospital about Down syndrome. Then my family was asked to be keynote speakers at the United Nations in New York City for World Down Syndrome Day. Then we lobbied Congress in MDC for education rights. My journey continued with a gold medal in Union of Rights Soccer, senior prom, and graduation. And being accepted into the Achieve Program at Howline College, my first choice school because it has a marine science program and invitation to the White House. Followed, my adventure continued with an opportunity to represent the Global Down Syndrome Foundation at the White House. For the B&Rs event, for new graduates going further with education against expectations, the White House. I was in the White House with Michelle Obama and then President Obama came in as a surprise. Expectations. They asked me what was my biggest obstacle that I ever faced. Then I answered other people's doubts because they didn't see what I was capable of. My family, teachers, and coaches always believed in me because I am capable. It was a little overwhelming, but a door was open. I can't tell where the journey will end, but I know where to start. Now that I'm here, college is a lot of work. But as I said, I am determined. The work so far I am so determined. My commute to my classes are longer than my parents put together. I am the expert in public transit in my family. I take a bus to the link and then a second bus each way every day. Not everyone believed in me, but I did. Sometimes you have to try and if it doesn't work out then you can just try again. Dream big. What is next for me? I hope to continue to learn. I hope to continue to advocate for everyone's rights. I hope to inspire others. I plan to be employed, move out, get married, and live happy ever after. Imagine the possibilities. You just have to find that door and open it. I ask that we treat each other the way we want others to treat us. I ask you to dream big for yourself. I ask that you believe in other people's dreams. Pass the flame. Together, unified, we can make a difference. Thank you so much for listening. Do you have any questions? Do you guys have any questions? Yes. How are you able to speak in front of people and not seem at all nervous? Mom, can you help? I'm amazed that you're comfortable speaking in front of people too. Well, this all started my senior year. This really sparked the flame and it became a fire. So, yeah. And lots of practice too. Yes. Well, thank you. How do you do with your homework and your reading? Are you able to just go to the library or you prefer to do it by yourself or you have some help? Where do you do most of your homework? Oh, at home. Sometimes at school. And did you want to tell them that you're not trick but one of the things you've been using rather than reading all of these things? Yeah, rather than reading all the assignments that I've been getting, I've been using YouTube to watch the videos that I see educational. Do you spend a lot of time doing it though? Most of your life causing kids doing your homework? Do you like to do your homework? Yes. It's one of the things I got to say about Deb. She would always ask for homework, you know, in whatever class she was in. When she ended up in being some less academic classes in high school, she was always ready for the teacher to give her more stuff to do. Deb is the third, or we have three kids and she's the middle kid. So I think she saw both Sibs on either side doing homework. And she's been a great example to her younger brother to do homework and to try and try again. I think that's one thing that must be on the 21st chromosome because the determination is all of her. Any other questions? Hi Deb, my name is Skyman. I'd like to thank you for being here and speaking with us today. You did an amazing job. Thank you. My question, how did your one speech at Seattle Children's lead all the way to the White House and President Obama? That's just... What? Talk about that a little bit. I was just saying that it was very overwhelming with lots of joy and just believing in my friends. Like, like, my friends believed in me so I just took that and just went for it. What was the process? Was there an application or part of a program or what? Those are good questions and I think the unexpected part was the unexpected part. The UN, I think, put us a little bit on the map of other people seeing us. And for that, there was an application. Devin and I had planned to just attend the conference because there is a World Down syndrome day conference that's held at the UN so we wanted to be in the audience and we had to fill out information about what we've been doing. So we put down that you were going to speak at Seattle Children's and she has spoken at the Buddy Walk a couple of times which is a fundraising walk for Down syndrome awareness. So when we put those down then they contacted us and said, hmm, would you be willing to, you know, speak? And then at that point it was just Devin and I going and I was like, okay, we can be on a family panel, I'm okay with that. We can be up there with other people and when we said yes to that they said, well actually, how about you guys be our keynote speaker? And at that point I said to my husband, can you come with us please because we don't want to do this by myself. So we made it a family affair and all of us went. It's just amazing how one thing leads to another and then you can hear at the White House and the President Obama taking a selfie at some point. You're amazing Devin. It has been pretty crazy. Thank you. When she started her senior year we discussed it a lot what she wanted to do and the public speaking and advocacy was something you wanted and I said, okay, well if the opportunities arise we're going to have to go for it and they just have kept coming. So it's been pretty crazy. Yes. Okay, so now you're an activist like you know, beating the odds and it started with your senior project and do you have any advice for your teachers besides believing in you? Do you have any advice for teachers? Do you have any advice for teachers? Gosh, I would just say just believing in your students and see what that takes to take you. The only way that you love homework? Yes. Well I love homework because it's just part of me. You like to learn? I just love to learn. When you're interested in something you really... I never stop. So that's because you want money oh I'd wear that because they'd be awesome. So I was going to say that. Thank you, Evanella. Yes, Jenny? So I wanted to just and then piggyback off of what Anne's question was. Do you love homework? Do you love to learn? Can you talk a little bit about your classes that you take your first quarter of college? It's big deal. Yeah. Some people get stressed out. I was one of them in my first quarter of college so tell me about your classes tell us about your classes and then what are some strategies you're using when you feel that stressed at all college students? So my class is all I'm taking I would know as communication and advocacy class and I feel like I'm taking oceanography which was history as well. And I got an A plus in my oceanography class and I got an A in I would know as class as well so I'm just really proud of myself and when I'm feeling stressed I would just ask the teacher if I could go outside and even just do some exercise or something to clear my mind that really helps a lot and when sometimes the students move it too like asking if we can choose some music then we can also help you get your mind on track instead of losing your path and just losing track on your work. So I would just say if you're feeling stressed about your first quarter of college I would just say take a breather and just go outside sit down and listen to music and then that would do it. Yes? If you're studying on a test assignment I would just ask the teacher if I can just go outside and listen to music. Because before you got your grades back you were pretty stressed, right? And how are you feeling and how did you deal with that that doubt about how you were doing? How would you say you dealt with that? Well, I was anxious and sometimes I feel anxious about my assignments sometimes and sometimes I just need to calm down and take a breather and just keep going. Yeah? Doing good. They kind of piggyback off of work this gentleman was saying he's amazed I believe the whole human race is amazed at what what we call angels in disguise and I believe every single human being has potential to be special. It's just the fact that we have to look within ourselves and be able to nurture what we're good at and on your behalf you found early what you was good at and it's a I believe in a certain philosophy that we're all put on the surf to leave a footprint and the footprint is going to determine how great you were and how shadowy you were because all the paths that you crossed the White House the UN all these great people before you and that's coming behind you across your path they're going to look at your footprint and they're going to determine how great you were from the depth of how deep the footprint was you walk with a heavy footprint and the people that come before you they understand you're a great person and the generation that's coming after you yeah you're paid in the way and I got to say I'm proud of you Thank you For me it's a bit stressful but I know that college is a lot of work and I just have to keep going with it and if I get anxious and if they're freaking out over it a test or an assignment I would just listen to music or take a break and then just come back to it and then just get it done So do you think college is harder or easier than high school? I think for me I think college is a bit harder than high school Was it nice to see any friends when you got here or did you know anybody when you came to school? When I came to school I didn't know anyone and I kept studying myself because I just missed my friends from high school a lot and I just missed my friends and now I'm just looking back and I still miss them and now I know a couple of friends myself here in college Well, making new friends in college is a bit kind of easy I'm trying to go to clubs and try to join other new fights both as well like doing like football even though I'm doing it as a new term but I'm going to come back and do if I talk to a West Highline and probably basketball as well I think I can find a team Do you have any accommodations? I don't really know I think Brandon would know the answer to that question more than I do Any specific accommodations? I know we've done at home we started doing the YouTube stuff instead of having to read all of the material but that's not official I think that was one of the differences between high school and college because in high school you can modify the curriculum and still get a grade but in college you can't modify the curriculum but you can accommodate the way you take and not process the information but the way you get the information and I think that was where we thought the YouTube or having video pieces would work really well because Dev, you're a visual learner and having to read college level work is rough but a lot of that information is published just on YouTube you put in a couple of key words into a YouTube thing and pops up a cool video that's got animation and all kinds of good stuff Speaking of accommodations so we all kind of accommodate ourselves for those of you who don't know an accommodation is something that levels the playing field in a classroom but Dev, we found amazing ways you've said it throughout your presentation you're determined to learn and part of me determined to learn and being successful about that is finding those ways to get the information that you need and I love that you figured out I'm going to learn better by seeing this how do you develop these strategies in YouTube to learn the content of the class and how do you know if those strategies are really the content of the class because that's amazing and I thought that every student could take that kind of initiative in their learning and be getting more out of their classes so what would you think of that? Well, when I actually I was doing 7-4-3 last night on a new I found a way that I don't want to read all of it so I decided to type in the keywords into YouTube and that really helped me a lot to find what she, a video on it and I got an idea to actually do that and that helped me with my assignment I think having a little brother who uses YouTube a lot is part of the inspiration Yeah Yes, I guess we like to switch questions can you tell us something about any hobby that you have maybe outdoors or something Well, I love soccer so sometimes I do soccer outside sometimes I throw a football around so it's my brother and the dad and also most of all, I love poetry because I'm a poet in my family and I just love writing poems and that really helped me a lot as well and I'm probably going to start I'm probably going to start making my poem book because I have a lot of poems that I have created and my other hobbies are like playing basketball as well oh yeah, sometimes I actually go to a program called Young Life and I actually have some friends there as well and I'm also part of a special other place as well and I've done soccer with them I've done skiing as well I love skiing I've been skiing with a ski horse for three years now and that's been amazing so yeah oh yeah oh okay okay so I love Achieve because my friends I see what Achieve and like Brandon it's also a good example because Achieve is helping me think about my scheduling stuff and to decide to actually break down my assignments as well and that really helped me a lot the way it works I think it works for my brain to think about it is it sort of like having a homeroom you have a place to go where you get to feel grounded and there are people there who are back and doing what you're supposed to be doing and then there's a study hall period twice a week which at least that's what it sounds like to me where there's guided help for homework and so those are the pieces that I think have been instrumental and what is instrumental is the support and the scaffolding that they're able to add into the coursework questions yeah oh yeah, document disabilities yeah I was going to say I'm not sure what else is required for other things to be an Achieve you have to be 18 you have to want to go to college because college is a choice because you guys all know they're going to college you gotta want this you gotta want a job because we go to school to work afterwards any other questions well I kind of have a passion for moving biology so I'm going to move on to my career in the field of moving biology and oceanography maybe look for NOAA yes yeah so I applied for an internship at the math center and I was going to wait for like for the next month because October's been a busy month for me and I'm about to go out of town as well but at the math I'm going to work with the behind the scenes people in doing that system like cleaning up the tanks and feeding animals and yeah yes it has been because I've been to a lot of aquariums I actually for my first birthday actually this happened in Florida and for my first birthday we went to this called failure in Florida and I actually have my hands up on my mouth we had to go down to this platform and first the dolphins actually saved me a happy birthday song oh yeah so recently I just I've been on a table with the shallow aquarium and I said that I was done doing it because I had been so busy with other stuff in my life like doing like probably speaking doing more speeches and talking publicly like this I thought I could I always thought it doesn't but I've been answering questions from our visitors that we were getting any other questions yes in the back that's been your absolute favorite on your journey here that would have to be my passion actually my favorite memory from last year would have to be being at the White House because that was really overwhelming and like full of joy and feel of love it's just amazing being at the White House and seeing Michelle Obama and the President of Obama was just kind of amazing so yeah that's my favorite memory of last year no this summer as I said yeah good person I just have one question for you mom how long have you had all this memory we said that we would take the opportunities as they came and we would you know roll with it and see what happened and luckily we've been able to take advantage of a lot of those opportunities and it's been just crazy I think being at the White House was overwhelming I think that is the best word because we've been to DC before and done the touristy kind of things but we've never been into the White House and then for the Obama's to be there it was pretty amazing and speaking at the UN was also amazing the caliber of people and to know that people around the world are thinking about how to make the White House better for everyone was a great experience also I think being invited to the White House for the BDV the odds event a lot of the people that were there were college students like a lot of the college students here that are either first time first generation college students people that have a lot of financial aid issues people that are of English as a second language or foster care issues and the White House was able to broaden their definition of diversity enough to also include individuals with disabilities so I thought that was great that we were on the radar and to not take advantage of that wasn't really an option so when that came up it was like hey we'll rearrange whatever we have to in order to to get our faces out there thank you very much yeah one last time just before when I finished talking I would like to say that both of you saved your names again I guess was paying attention but overall what I wanted to say in this case I wanted to talk to you the mother you didn't know that you've been blessed but I also want to tell you that I admire you in so many ways I never want to forget you I don't want to forget this moment and I want to thank you both of you for giving us the opportunity to see this for the women for us also I believe it's for the women for me and I admire you with your own work thank you you want to say your name oh I'm Devon by the way Devon Adelman and I'm Sue Adelman we had the opportunity to hear a lady named Karen Gaffney speak and she also happens to have Down syndrome and recently did a TEDx talk down in Portland and one of her key phrases was that she is not the exception she is one of the possibilities and I thought that was such a powerful thing to say because a lot of people will say oh well that's the type of Down syndrome you have or you're one of the few lucky ones that has less of an impact or what have you but for full disclosure we totally believe in inclusion Devon was fully included through preschool, elementary, middle school we didn't live in Washington state Washington state is a very difficult place to go to school and I think when 90 plus percent of the kids 97 when 97 percent of the kids with Down syndrome are put into a contained classroom in kindergarten you're off the bat limiting what their potential is and that's hard you know I want to be able to take it responsibility for Devon but Devon is determined and Devon is the kid that does all the work it's crazy but I think we have had opportunities that we've been able to take advantage of and that full inclusion was a huge starting point and you have to lay that foundation if you're going to be able to go on further education and be a productive employed individual pay taxes and do all those things where you're not living on assistance if you can that it's a great path that everybody has to figure out so get in trouble thank you yes so for kids who did not have the opportunity to do full inclusion because they didn't see what state in Washington do you have any suggestions for things they can do in a very short period of time I think pushing the system as much as you can whether it is pushing the teachers or doing it at home if they're not getting as much stimulation as you want in the classroom then add things at home there are plenty that you can go on does that make it hard because you have to do it yes but if you believe in your kid and your kid is interested then are your students shouldn't call you a kid anymore then it's what you have to do I think that Washington is trying hard and I think that Seattle is starting to recognize some of its deficits it has a long-storied history of disability rights and the ADA was written in Washington State believe it or not it was the groundwork for the federal work but I don't think it's gone further than that where it was in the 70s and other states have definitely gone further and I think all states have problems and all public systems are different but Seattle's progressive we can bring things forward we did something about the frustration, the bump in the road if you want to mention that you're totally good go ahead so when we first moved here to Washington State we had this bump in the road and it's for the school districts and they definitely looked at my diagnosis and not me whatever I can do they almost at my down syndrome and saying that I belong in this contained classroom but I actually proved them wrong by showing them a map that I can do like that Desi said that I cannot read or write and that truly just shocked me and I said okay I'm going to show you guys what I can do I'm going to draw you guys a map of Washington State and my hometown Michigan and I proved them wrong I colored and I printed to where Michigan and where Seattle is and then they just said okay we don't need her anymore good so we had to fight and to that special educator she did say maybe you don't belong in my contained lifestyle class and that was the beginning of us not fighting but working with schools to find a better setting and a better program that worked for Desi and that's where my dad actually decided to write books about it he actually wrote a series of books called Sam's Top Secret Journal and the Sam it's actually based on the frustration that we had and Sam is actually based on me and what I do whatever Sam does in the book as he was real and what I experienced and that was really helpful and he also wrote this miracle book as well if you want to mention it shameless plug here there's a children's series of books called Sam's Top Secret Journal that I think when we were in Michigan we were pretty complacent not to be advocates but when we came to Michigan or came from Michigan to Washington and we realized that there were a lot of misconceptions my husband decided to write a children's book which is a chapter book that's probably about a fourth grade reading level that stars the person with Down syndrome in an attempt to get those books into the elementary schools to show what kids are capable of and it's not a true story of Devin but everything that the character does in the books is based on different abilities that Devin has so sorry for the shameless plug in the miracle book yes and there is also a medical book that's called Sam or that's called Trispero it's a medical thriller that is also based on a lot of the genetic research that they're doing at this time yes okay so Devin you're very accomplished, you're ambitious and you keep giving back so you told me before that you told all of us that you enjoy proving the doubters and haters wrong and so is that part of your big motivation to keep facing bigger and bigger challenges yes it is yes just open doors and see what that means you open oh I have another you want to say something about that okay okay my answer to that was do you want me to open up the microphone sure my name is Ivenoma Smith and I'm actually Devin's professor and one of the greatest ways to get started in advocacy is to find like-minded people that also have a passion in advocacy so what do I like if a parent is wanting to advocate for their child finding other parents that have that passion as well and also maybe try to help be a child find their peers that have passion in that advocacy work the ARC is one of them South Washington is an ARC in King County being involved in different advocacy organizations like the South Advocates of Washington people first of Washington and South advocates and leaders of SAIL and so maybe trying to get connected with these groups would help get started in advocacy because we always put up a lot of opportunities for people to advocate and they also have information about how to get to the Olympia and advocate to our legislators about different issues and in fact people with developmental and intellectual disabilities they have a lot of great resources to help with that thank you so I just wanted to add for the faculty and for other students in the room often times people with disabilities especially as they're transitioning from high school to college don't want to share that they have a disability maybe they're afraid of being judged or stereotypes in those situations just advocacy is this big thing but it can start just with yourself I just wanted to let people know that access services we have staff here to talk to students it can be completely confidential but if you're struggling and you feel like you need some support the first step to being a self-advocate is just to ask for help it's okay it's not a shameful thing and I think that's one of the reasons why we went down to come here today is that we're all struggling we're all reaching hopefully for our dreams and we all need help so just encourage students to come see us it's fine so it is intense but it's not too much any other questions yeah and it's like the middle of the border so do you want to tell us where you are going so basically I'm going to Denver because I'm going to be a model for the beautiful so that the global foundation is playing on just to noon and so I was going to wrap up and I also wanted to let you know everybody in here that it's a new club on campus a unified club and the unified mission is to play unified to live unified people with and without disabilities doing things together Doug mentioned that he won gold in the soccer tournament as did the first meeting of this year is today at 230 in building 19 room 205 and I think we're all welcome so please and Devin thank you so much it's every time I hear you speak it is an honor to learn more and more about your journey and what you have in determination and motivation that is the tool that will make any one of us succeed in this room for our goals and so I wish we could bottle it because that determination to prove what you can do and the trying so hard to get to where you want to do so Devin thank you see you all coming