Peter's Story
I met Peter one morning at his home in South County. He was sitting down to a bowl of cereal, dressed in his robe. Peter is a young (in 2008, he became 46) man with Down syndrome. His sister told me that he had recently moved in with her and her husband. Before coming to St. Louis, Peter had been living with his brother (who is his legal guardian) in Tucson, Arizona. Peter worked in a sheltered workshop at a MERS Goodwill in Tucson, though was not earning much since employees were paid according to quantity of production. Other than interactions with peers at the workshop, Peter had very little other exposure to the outside world. Peter had spent most days at home watching television. It was evident that Peter’s sister, Pat, wanted him to be involved and live independently. However, Peter was painfully shy and virtually non verbal. It wasn’t clear if this is what he actually wanted. We continued our meeting, and Peter listened attentively as his sister answered my questions.
Peter was then registered as a College For Living student in the Continuing Education program. On the first night of class, Peter stayed by my side the entire two hours. He seemed completely overwhelmed by the 60 or so classmates that filled Shrewsbury community center. We began to walk to our classrooms upstairs. Peter began sobbing. I asked if he was afraid of elevators and he shook his head “yes.” A classmate then assisted Peter up the stairs. He sat quietly during class time. Peter continued to come to class, week after week. The same student assisted him up the stairs each time.
It was the second to last night of class. From the classroom, I observed the skies turn red, and the trees bend from the wind. Then, I heard the sirens begin to blare. The lights flickered, and the students and I were frantic. We were told to proceed down the stairs and to the gymnasium because a tornado was heading in our direction. I looked for Peter. A student was assisting him down the stairs. He was visibly upset and frightened. The decision was made for everyone to be taken home. I thought for sure this was the last class for Peter. The last night of class, there he was, climbing up the stairs.
The last night was the party which meant pizza and karaoke! Peter had a big smile on his face. For some reason the scariness of last week seemed to have created more camaraderie. Students were singing and dancing. They had worked very hard on their math and reading this semester. They deserved this. He approached me and in a quiet voice asked if he could have the microphone. I responded, “Sure,” completely stunned. He had the microphone in hand and said, “Thank you to College For Living for changing my life and thank you to all my new friends.” With a tear in his eye it was evident to me that Peter learned a lot more that semester than book knowledge.
Recently, I saw Peter. He was off to a weekend overnight trip with People First. Now that’s independence.
