Carrie Bergeron – Advocate & Motivational Speaker
I took away the disk from the disability
aiming at my ability to make a
difference in this world
it feels good to do a presentation it’s
it’s not just for me I mean I’m glad
that I inspire other people but to be
honest with you those people in the
audience those people they are inspired
they inspire me
I think she inspires people Kari is able
to express herself in such a meaningful
way that there’s a warmth and a and a
love that comes through her towards her
audience and people pick up on it just
like that
in 1976 I was enrolled in an early
intervention program for people with
special needs and I was the very first
infant in Herkimer County to be enrolled
you could say that I was a pioneer when
she was born I never in visualized that
she’d be living the independent life she
is today in the days when she was born
it was kind of at the pioneering stages
when things were changing they were
starting to include children in
mainstream classes and inclusion and now
self-determination I was included with
other classes like music our computer
my favorite class which is my strengths
it’s English I graduated in 1997 I was
21 years old when I graduated and then I
did a post graduate at the Herkimer
County BOCES and received in early
childhood education certificate it’s 36
years now and each year she shows us a
different side of herself that just
amazes us I became a really good writer
I have written short stories poems the
of all the things that has happened in
my life especially the story that I have
written which I am well known as it’s
called the special tomato story special
tomato stories is a story about a garden
experience I was picking tomatoes one
late summer evening
we’re getting ready for supper and all
of a sudden Kari came out and she said
dad I’ve got some questions for you and
she asked me why was it so difficult for
her to learn and why did kids tease her
at school so I I you know sort of looked
at her twice and I also sort of looked
up into the sky as if how do I answer a
question like that and so I said well
Kari look at these two Tomatoes
he saw it differently shaped tomato
which caught his attention it was miss I
miss shaken and then they said I mean he
also saw another one that was the usual
so I said Kari let’s let’s take both of
these in for supper and see how they’re
different let’s take him in and we’ll
cut him up and see how they taste my dad
actually took the two tomatoes and
tasted the one that was regular tastes
are great and then he tasted the special
miss shapen tomato and I said actually
it tastes the same so afterwards after
supper we’ll we kind of concluded that
they both were delicious and it doesn’t
matter what they look like they’re
substantially the same and she asked she
asked me she said well dad what what is
it that makes me so special then and I
said well it’s your loving spirit and
your strong character and so she kind of
lit up at the explanation of that and
said oh I can I can understand that
she’s saying and then she proceeded to
write a story in her English class and
we have a friend who’s a who was their
English teacher and she called me right
up and said this is amazing and so
that’s where it all started and
it was just it just helped carry to
accept that she is a person with Down
syndrome but and she has challenges but
she also has many gifts and it was it
was life-changing for her I do believe
when she was a teenager
the typical kids were becoming involved
in sports and other activities and I
could see that she was becoming a little
lonely so I used to take her up to the
Resource Center in Utica where there
were other young people with
disabilities and they taught her how to
present for advocacy sessions and she
learned computer skills and she just
became enthralled with giving speeches
well I never thought I will be in
newspapers and articles and books and
everything I was just going out there
and doing speeches just to make a
difference in this world for anyone with
and also without disabilities because I
know that some people neither extra –
oops I just want to give out the message
that those of us with any kind of
special need needs to be looked at as a
human being not just because we have a
special need because like I said before
we have the same hopes dreams and
desires as anyone else does
you
