Press

Article by Sarah Horgan in the Irish Examiner

Listen to Ryan speak about Born Transcendent here!

Article by Sarah Horgan in The Echo

Exciting article by Sarah Horgan in The Echo

We just wanted to take this moment and try to clarify a misunderstanding, which might be out there for some people involved in working with people with Down-Syndrome.

In the Echo newspaper article about Born Transcendent, I said that “Authorities want to babysit people with Down-Syndrome”. We were made aware that some people who are working on a daily basis with people with Down-Syndrome felt that it sounded like we were undervaluing their work. 

I would like to clarify my position:

I think the people working on the base, working with people with Down-Syndrome on a daily basis throughout the country, are fantastic and are doing tremendous work. 

I would like to express here my appreciation for the people on the base working with people with Down-Syndrome. In my experience with my daughter in the last 19 years, I have to say, it was and it is tremendous, how much effort and dedication the staff put into their work on a daily basis working with people with Down-Syndrome, in all the different organisations. They go way beyond their work hours, and their commitment and dedication to people with Down-Syndrome and their effort to try and bring them on is fantastic. I know you would love to include the people you are caring for on an even broader level, but I also know that your hands are often tied by the legislation and by your employers. 

What I meant is that, in my experience, there seems to be a disinterest in the administration offices about what is actually going on on the ground. This happens on a national level but, especially, on an international level in the European parliament. It is in these administration offices where people with Down-Syndrome are heavily underestimated, and it is in these administration offices where I experienced my disappointment and frustration with the authorities and where I got the impression that all they want is to babysit people with Down-Syndrome.

To the people involved in the day-to-day caring for people with Down-Syndrome: I admire your work, I admire your dedication and I know how hard your working conditions are and I would like to apologise that I did not express myself clearly in the first place.

Reinhard (Ryan) Waschkowitz