November / December 2004
Volume 22, Number 6

This is a humorous little story on self-advocacy.

My son Chris is 15 years old. He has Down syndrome. He loves all kinds of music, from classical to rock and roll, to country. He also loves “The Wiggles”. The Wiggles, for those of you who are unfamiliar, are a group from Australia. They mostly cater to the under-five crowd, they are on the Disney Channel, and they have become a regular part of Chris’ day. Many times Chris has asked, “Can I go see The Wiggles?” Luckily for me I could say, “They live in Australia, and it is too far away to visit. If they come to the USA, I will take you to see them.” Unlucky for me, Chris is computer savvy. He goes to The Wiggles website several times a week. Last year the site had an announcement…“THE WIGGLES ARE COMING…THE WIGGLES ARE COMING!” So as I promised, I took him to see The Wiggles.

The Wiggles were coming to Madison Square Garden – we decided to take all four children and make a weekend of it. We drove our car to Rhinebeck and took the train from there into New York City. It was Chris’ first time going to NYC, and he was very excited. All the way in on the train he was saying, “I’m going to meet The Wiggles!” He was saying this to just about anyone who would listen. Not wanting him to be disappointed, and trying to be realistic, I corrected him. “You are going to SEE The Wiggles, Chris, not meet them. You will be in the audience, and they will be up on stage, doing their show.” “No,” said Chris, “I will be on stage with them and I will meet them all.” It was no use, I just kept repeating that he would “see” them, and he kept repeating he would “meet” them. At the hotel, before the concert, we made a sign that said, “We love The Wiggles.” We drew a heart, and Chris put glitter glue in it for the “love” part. We had seats fairly close to the stage, and as The Wiggles came on stage Chris jumped up in his seat with his sign. Everyone in the audience was clapping and cheering and The Wiggles were singing. After their first song Chris held his sign up again. Murray, one of The Wiggles, said, “There is a young man out in the audience who has made a nice sign for us…come up here. What is your name?” Chris yelled out his name. “Come up here, Chris, and show everyone your sign!” So up to the stage he went. Then Murray said, “Let’s give Chris a hand for the lovely sign that he made.” And the whole audience gave Chris a big hand! We have the pictures to prove it. Chris was the only person called to the stage at Madison Square Garden! We couldn’t believe it. All of The Wiggles came over to him and shook his hand, AND signed his poster RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR PERFORMANCE! Chris walked back to his seat with that “told you so” look on his face. He said he was going to meet them and he was right...now I call that self-advocacy!

As a result of his going up to the stage, I contacted The Wiggles’ management when they came to the Pepsi Arena on August 30th of this year. Chris got on a “meet and greet” list, and we all met with them before the show, when we had a nice picture taken with them. I guess you could say that we are now “Wiggles groupies”!