This fifteen-month-old became a star in more ways than one
A Mom’s Approach
Parents of children with Down syndrome each have their own thoughts of how they want to raise their child.
Equal Opportunities
Asher’s Mom Wants Him To Have The Same Opportunities as any other child
Although Asher may have Down syndrome, he also has the characteristics of every other little one his age. He is bright and fun-loving and loves to have his picture taken and added to this, he is absolutely adorable. In short, he is everything that any child modeling agency would be looking for.
Mom’s Assumption
There is no reason why Asher should not be considered as a baby model
Mom saw that Asher had all the right qualities for being an ideal model for an Oshkosh advertising campaign. So she sent in photos of Asher when she heard they were looking for models.
No Response
Aher’s mom, Meagan at least expected to hear something back from the modeling agency handling the campaign, but to her surprise, she didn’t.
Follow Up
Meagan could have just left it there, but she wanted some answers
She contacted the company to see what their reasons were for not casting Asher for the part.
Wrong Answer with Wrong Reason
Perhaps if they said that Asher wasn’t what they were looking for or some other logical reason Meagan would have left it go there.
But that wasn’t the case as the agency told her that Oshkosh wasn’t looking for a child to model that had special needs.
A Mom With A Mission
Obviously, the casting agency had no idea that Meagan was a mom with a mission
She had no intention of letting her son lose out on any opportunity simply because he was different. Meagan was about to take a journey down a road with Asher that was going to not only make a difference for Asher but for other kids with Down syndrome as well as their parents.
Asher Becomes An Internet Hit
If the casting agency didn’t want to make use of Asher’s photos, the internet was ready, willing and able to do so
Meagan took Asher’s photos and put them on the Kids with Down’s Syndrome Facebook group. If there was any thought that Asher would not be a big hit when it comes to drawing the right kind of attention, Megan’s mom and Asher’s charisma in his photos soon put that to rest.
Mom Goes A Step Further
Mom decides to contact Oshosh directly
Meagan realized that it was NOT this baby’s clothing company that had turned down their son. Oshkosh wanted to meet with Meagan to gain a better understanding.
The Purpose
Meagan’s purpose regarding the ad had changed from just thinking that Asher would have been a great model for the ad.
Now she was fighting for something bigger. The right for children with special needs to be given the same opportunities that other kids had. Not to be automatically excluded just because they were different in some way.
Asher Becomes A Star
Some may say that when Asher did land his modeling contract with Oshkosh that he had become a star. The reality is that this took place from the time Asher had his first photos released to the public who didn’t see a child with Down Syndrome. Instead, they say a bright-eyed happy-faced adorable fifteen month old.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
