SAN ANTONIO – The day after Nolah McBride celebrates her second birthday, the toddler will be among 500 other children, teenagers and adults with Down Syndrome featured in a video to be shown Saturday on a jumbotron in Times Square.
The video is produced annually to kick off National Down Syndrome Awareness Month in October.
“We’ll be watching it virtually and they’ll give us a time slot to let us know when we can expect to see her,” Quinisha McBride, Nolah’s mother said.
The video will also be livestreamed on the National Down Syndrome Society Facebook page.
“Very exciting to see my baby up there representing all the other babies with Down Syndrome,” McBride said.
Yet, when Nolah’s mother was told her firstborn child’s diagnosis, she said she often worried about how others would treat her.
Nolah was also born with a heart defect that was later repaired.
“She loves to dance. She’s very friendly. Always saying hi!”
Nolah is also learning to walk," McBride said. "She’s everywhere now. You can’t stop her.
Thanks to the resources of the Down Syndrome Association of South Texas, McBride said she’s learned more about her daughter’s genetic disorder.
“They play the same, they laugh the same,” McBride said. “There may be a little delay, but they’re just like any other baby.”
McBride said she hopes the public will understand what people with Down Syndrome experience and for the public to have a deeper understanding of the intellectual disability.
“I just want them to see how we should just start accepting everyone as they are,” McBride said.