UPBEAT MUSIC Captions by June Yeow. www.able.co.NZ Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 1 Get a park. Traffic. Traffic. Who believed in you, and how did they help you? Hello. Hello. How was your day? Hello, Chris. Hello. (STRAINS) MUM: Oh God. (CHUCKLES) That's a big hug. When a child is born, you've got all these dreams of what` what your child would be. And then the doctor comes in and says, 'Your son has Down's syndrome.' And all those dreams just suddenly collapse almost immediately. And you go into the mode 'how do I maximise what my son can do?' Well,... (CLEARS THROAT) I-I would suggest that, uh, with myself and my wife as parents, he got a few bright genes, so he was lucky there. GENTLE MUSIC If you said a child is 50/50 nature and nurture, I would tend to say for a Down's syndrome child, that with Chris, it might be 60% nurture, maybe 70. Do you know what these dishes are? Um... Yeah, th-they form part of a radio telescope. But when you have a child with disabilities, you say, 'What do I have to do so my child can speak?' With Chris, we were teaching him sign language. And then I had to walk on those` You see those little...? 'What do we do to develop his gross motor?' We tried a little athletics, and eventually we found a gymnastics programme. We put him into that, and look what's happened because of that. (CHUCKLES) Here, put your longs on. Just... OK. Head up. Do a big break. (GRUNTS) (GIVES INSTRUCTIONS) OK. Bend the knees. OK. So, not bad, but it's slightly back. On the first place, I was not quite sure, but, uh, gymnastic is sport for everybody. So you can see the whole gym. All right. 'I was very surprised, yeah, what he could achieve. 'For some skills, we had been working for a very long time. 'When he started, I thought maybe that's` it will never happen. 'But like you see today, he's, um, completing all his routines.' Good. Good, good, good. Yeah. OK. Push. 'Hard work. Hard work.' (GRUNTS) In 2011, he went to Athens Special O. He won gold on the high bar, silver on the parallel bar, and, um, bronze on other apparatus. All the memories came to me, 'Oh, he will be nothing in life.' (CHUCKLES) And then I watched Christopher there, and I was in Australia, working here, and I started crying. (LAUGHS) There he is. (GRUNTS) Squeeze bottom tight. Yep. Good. Good. And... I... Um... What's it called? We were worried then. You know, we were worried, you know, will Christopher actually be independent when he grows up? Chris! Yes? > Can you come here with the iPad, please? Yep. > We were determined that we would try our best for you to be independent. We didn't know how at the time. You need to`? Oh. What's left on charge? How many? 56. Oh, this will do. Can you look at the train... What time you have to be at uni, Chris? You have to be before 9. This means then how long will it take you to walk? Are you doing power walk? Oh yeah. 7.43, yes. What time you will get`? Where did you`? 8.26? Redfern. Yeah. Yeah, but if any hiccups, you could be late for your lecture. This means what we going to decide? 7.43. Yep. Yeah, but you will give me text? I-I will. You will text me? I'll just, um... ...text me? GENTLE MUSIC TRAFFIC LIGHT BLIPS BEEP! Christopher was learning. He-He needed help... his years of at high school, but from the beginning, he needed more than others. All his hard work paid off. He passed really well. Uh, the subject was English ` he did really well in English. He was really satisfied with his study, and he's still using it in his life now. This programme gives people with an intellectual disability the opportunity to go to uni and to do what every other young adult has the opportunity to do. In 2012, we did a research programme. And we had five people with an intellectual disability test out what it would be like to go to uni. What we found out was that people with an intellectual disability, when they came to uni, they got heaps more independent; they were really good at being assertive, which means making your own choices about what you want to do. We found that they learnt lots of stuff ` so the actual course content, they learnt a lot. So from there, we went, 'Hey, we should let more people do this.' All of this wouldn't be possible without the right support. So that's why you have things like you have two mentors, you have your tutorials with Fran, you have all these extra things to make it so that you are completely supported. Hey, Chris. How are you going? Good. I'm good. Did you bring your laptop today? No. Of course not. We don't need it. Interesting question. How are you going? Up and down? More people are... ...too thin. About right. We need to go to the shop to buy some veggies for tomorrow for the meal. Yeah. Yeah. Do you remember what we need for this` what you want to cook tomorrow? (LAUGHS) OK. You will be writing down? Yeah, I will be. All right. Do you remember what we need in this dish? OK? Yes. < Potatoes. Next. < What else is hot? < Beans. That's right. It took us long time to get here, but I didn't give up. You know, maybe you'll give him a break, you know, because, OK, I'm not forcing you, but didn't give up in the long-term, and he` he progressed, and... he did. Yeah. Yeah, I think, you know, being consistent ` consistent work. You grab the basket? Yeah. You have your list? Peas, snow peas, green beans. Green beans. Yes. How much? Yeah. Beans are healthy, aren't they? No, you can pick up by your fingers, Chris. You can pick up by` Yeah, I will hold here. That's a big handful. You think that's enough now? Yeah. I follow the leader. Pardon? Oh, your bag? That's a big bananas, Chris. > (CHUCKLES) That's good. Would you like a plastic bag? Yes, please. Separate, please. $29.50. Oh, $29.50. Yep. Um... (LAUGHS) Yes, that's... > Thank you. $20.50 change. Thank you. < Thank you. You're going to put your money away first? Yeah, I am. OK. JAUNTY MUSIC Morning. Good morning, Mr Bunton. How are you? I'm good. PHONE RINGS Hi, Chris. I'm well. Thank you. How can I help you? Um, as our organisation is being able to show what people with intellectual disability can do, rather than what they can't do, it felt like to me that we should have people, um, and our athletes actually working for us. So we put the ad out. You were one of the applicants. You did an excellent interview, and you were able to balance the skills that you have actually outside of being an athlete and how you bring them to this organisation. What do we need, Chris? What has to be`? Oh, parsley is for what? For the soup, but... Yeah. Oh, before it gets dark. Do you know where parsley is? Yes, I do. I know where parsley is. You sure? You don't bring me something else. You don't? Yeah? Because you usually go there and go, 'Which leaf is that?' Yes. That's true. Uh, whether you're going to be independent? < Yes. I think we're going to get there. (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY, LAUGHS) I think we only have one problem now. < What? Mum has to let go. ALL LAUGH (HUMS) OK. DAD: You're a world away from what we thought you would be. MUM: It's all worth it ` all the work we put in. It's working. Oh, that's parsley. You managed to bring the parsley. You think that's enough for all of us? OK. We` Yeah. Yeah, it's easy. I've done it too. A little bit further, Chris. There. If you can line` Argh! Yeah, that's what I mean. Oh! (LAUGHS) Look ` if you just chop them... And just remember, just a little bit faster... Mm... ...so the dinner will be today, not tomorrow. (LAUGHS) No. DAD: Every year was go and search 'what is the next thing we need to do?' One of these steps took about two months. So your mum had to sit with you two months, trying to get you this tiny bit extra skill. And you just didn't get it. Yeah, but, yeah, when he got it, what a, you know, excitement it was ` 'Oh, he did it! He did it!' That's what kept me going, because I learnt that, 'One day, I hope Christopher will learn the skills.' You moved forward, and I just thought, 'Oh, this one is taking longer.' Chris... > 'I think we've got to this point because of all the work that, um, especially my wife, has put into Chris, and uh, the effort we put in in finding all the programmes that can help him.' 'Chris? You ready yet?' Come on, Chris. We're ready to go. Got your log book? Ready for your driving lesson? How do you think you will go today? You think you will? What`? What do you think? He's never been on this road. What he has to... watch out? He'll be OK. Yeah? Just has to keep on learning how to stay in lane and stay on speed. Yeah. Two things. He can do one good, but both together. OK. Just stay positive and you can do it. You're the driver. You get the keys. Now, unlock the car. Thank you. > And you can unlock your side. OK. Fix yourself up. Fix your mirrors. Do everything, and we'll see whether we're ready to go. ENGINE STARTS OK, any traffic behind? OK, off we go. SPRIGHTLY MUSIC Change gear. Which gear are we in at the moment? Is that the right gear? < Left lane. Left lane. LOUD THUDDING That was a bit fast there, wasn't it? The bumps were holes in the road. You see there's bits of the road missing? You're too far to the right. Accelerate. Accelerate. Accelerate! REPORTER: Does he ever get upset with your driving? Now, see ahead ` you've got brake lights. Take your foot off the accelerator. Speed limit is 60. 60. Brake. Brake. Brake. Concentrate on your turn. Yes. No, you put your foot on the brake for stopping. His brake lights are on because he's now slowing down. And you're catching him, aren't you? Can you go left? Well, go left. Not so close to the gutter, please. Accelerate. Accelerate, Christopher. Accelerate. Hardly. You do, uh, park over there? Careful on the right. Just right there. Just park there. In the lane` In` All right. Turn the wheel. That's enough. OK. Stop. OK, Chris. That wasn't too bad, was it? Little bit of room for improvement, I think. OK, have you got your lesson plan? Yes? What are we doing today? Let me check. Which way are we going? All right. Let's go find the class. Run! Run! Time to find a spot on the floor in front of Chris, ready for your stretching. KIDS COUNT: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Hey, Chris, are you here? Hey, Halina, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Good to see you again. Hey, man. How are ya? < Yeah, let's go. So, what's been happening, man? MUM: When he got to the primary school, he had friends who, from the beginning, see him as, uh, as Chris. You know, they didn't see` Kids at this age probably didn't see him being so different. They just wanted to have fun. 'I've known Chris since before kindergarten, so well over 15 years.' How am I going? Yeah. Busy at work. Oh. Busy with the family. (CHUCKLES) That's me. All same old stuff. In kindergarten, we` we were mates, to be honest, from day one, and we just did what everyone does ` hang out,... Yeah. ...play games ` play soccer at school. Everything. It just started from that, really. You're my mate. I don't see anything different about you. We've been to birthday parties, movies, been to the pub. We've` We hung out after school, played soccer after school, Yeah, we should. I've got a spare helmet as well that you can use. UPBEAT MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES DAD: The surprising thing about you, Chris, is you don't have a limit. You keep on learning. MUM: You always want something else to do. You find interest. You never stop. Never. And you're up for trying everything. MUSIC CONTINUES Oh, very proud of you. Yes, we are very proud. Stick. Captions by June Yeow. www.able.co.NZ Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015