When Ariel was born, the room filled quickly.
It was the middle of the night. By morning, a team of doctors and a social worker had gathered at his parents’ bedside. They told Rissa and Eddie that their son had Down syndrome—and spoke about foster care and adoption, laying out a future that did not include bringing Ariel home.
Rissa never forgot that moment. Neither did her husband. “He’s our son,” Eddie said. “He’s coming home with us.”
What followed was a family life shaped by determination.
There were early challenges: constant therapies, open-heart surgery with a low chance of survival, and the slow, steady work of helping Ariel grow stronger. Rissa and his older sister would lie on the floor with him, encouraging him to lift his head.
Today, more than forty years later, Ariel walks through the world with his head lifted high—social, open and eager (sometimes too eager, says Rissa) to engage with everyone. He spends his days volunteering in a work program at the MADA Community Centre and his evenings helping at other charities. He walks wherever he can—even after dark.
“My fear,” Rissa says, “is that someone will see right away that he’s different—and take advantage of him.”
“I want my own place,” says Ariel. “I want to live on my own.”
But Rissa knows independence requires learning and guidance. A former teacher, she thinks of his needs in an acronym: SEAS—socialization, education, accommodation and security.
Now in her seventies, Rissa has spent a lifetime advocating for Ariel. “When the kids were younger, a group of us moms used to meet twice a month to figure out how to get inclusive education,” she says. During COVID, she fought to have people with disabilities prioritized for vaccines. And as a founding member of Alink’s Board, she has helped build an organization to provide the lifelong, individualized support that Ariel—and others like him—need.
“Our kids don’t age the same way others do,” she says. “Things can become more complicated. You can do everything right—and still, there are things you just can’t control.”
Rissa and Eddie are getting older. They are constantly thinking about what the future will look like—and how to make sure Ariel is safe, supported and not alone.
“It’s not like our other kids, who get married and go off to have a life of their own,” says Rissa. “It’s a lifelong commitment. We’re never off the hook.”
“That’s why what Alink is doing–bringing community together to help support our adult children–is so important.”