Congress provides inspiring learnings but no magic pill

By Tracey Laker

Zandra, Sarah Merrimant and Tracy Laker

It is nice to take some time to think about the World Down Syndrome Congress, as life since has been a whirlwind. I am a joint business owner with my husband Tony, of Laker House of Travel in Invercargill and mum to our daughter Meg who is 17 and the most incredibly patient, kind and forgiving sister. I am also mum to Flynn, who has Down syndrome, but more importantly who is “turning 15 on the 1st of October” just in case you are one of the few who haven’t heard. Flynn is an amazing boy, exceptionally polite, quick witted, really clever and fortunately has great speech. He and his sister and cousins (who he calls his Minions) run a sock business called Flynn’s Sox and he also works at a legal firm, Cruickshank Pryde, for one hour each week doing office duties. He loves working there, applied himself and would have accepted any position given. Even when toilet cleaning was mentioned jokingly by his lawyer cousin Nic Popham during the interview, Flynn replied “no problem, I have dreamt of being a janitor since I was a baby”. Getting Flynn to work is the easy part of our day, getting him out of bed (unless it’s the weekend), in the shower, brushing his teeth, getting him to school, keeping him at school, stopping him continually wanting food and getting him off technology is what makes my hairdresser a rich man, continually painting out the greys. So when I learnt that the World Congress would fit in perfectly with a work trip my husband and I were escorting to Europe, I jumped at the chance, hoping to pick up a magic pill to help get us through each day. The Congress was a well-run event with interesting speakers, inspiring stories and at times a little bit sad. Although there were many learnings at the Congress with different parts of the world doing some stunning things, my favourite part was listening to keynote speakers Sarah Merriman and her Dad Andy. They have written a book called A Major Adjustment, “How a Remarkable Child Became a Remarkable Adult”. I had the pleasure of having lunch with the Merrimans and when Sarah asked me for the third time if I had bought her book yet, I pushed my lunch to the side and lined up to purchase a copy. As for the magic pill, I am still searching, although I did find a queue of others also looking. So if you are reading this and can help our crazy household become not quite so crazy we would love to hear from you. If not WDSC Dubai 2020 here I come.