Community Nursing

Biography

Sheri Brynard (33 years old) of South Africa is the only person with Down syndrome (normal Trisomy 21) who is a qualified teacher with a tertiary teacher’s diploma (without any amendments been made to the course), in the world. She is also an international ambassador for all people with Down syndrome. She truly believes that all people have the ability to choose to make the best of their circumstances and she is the living example of that. She is currently an assistant teacher in a Pre-primary school for learners with special needs and she gives motivational speeches all over the world. Sheri tries to change negative perceptions about people with Down syndrome and she is an activist to give all people with Down syndrome the same opportunities they would have had, if they were fully abled. Although she is intellectually disabled and she was brought up in the Afrikaans language, she was determined to learn to speak English to be able to reach more people with her story of hope. She grew up in ‘n middleclass home in a rather small city in South Africa at a time when there were little to no support in the form of therapy, available. Apart from the more than 400 public speeches she has presented in South Africa, she did the opening speech at the previous International Down syndrome Conference in 2012 and she did a key note at the opening day of the International Down syndrome conference again in 2015, in Chennai, India. The day before the conference in India, during the pre-conference, she also delivered a presentation at the Panchayat in India. She was asked to talk the role she plays as an ambassador to DSi (Down syndrome International) and person with Down syndrome in South Africa. In March 2013 Sheri addressed an International Conference on International Down syndrome day held in the headquarters of the United Nations in New York and she spoke at the University of Canterbury in the UK in July 2013.

Abstract

Abstract : The only qualified teacher with Down syndrome in the world