Finley Hiebert

Five year old Finley Hiebert is representing the southeast in Jordan Power's self-published book 'Extra-Ordinary, Stories of Manitobans With Down Syndrome.'

Power explains the book shows what to expect of someone with down syndrome and what they can do and understand.

"My initial experience with down syndrome was taking the bus to work everyday with a man who lived in my area with down syndrome," he describes. "I got to know him a little bit through that and our families know each other, and he has a really cool story of going to school and getting jobs and doing all these interesting things that I didn't expect him to do. I sort of thought after that that wasn't very fair of me to not expect him to do those things. So I really wanted to show and tell some stories of people with down syndrome from five years old to up to 30 years old that are doing cool, fun and interesting different things."

One of the most interesting things Power says he found during the interviewing process was that many of the people with down syndrome he interviewed were aware they had it and of how people treated them. Finley is the youngest person featured in the book, and his mother Brittney says reading it has been a great experience.

"It's just been really encouraging with the book to see all these adults in the book and where they're going with their lives and what they can all do," she notes. "It's just really encouraging for us as parents to see what our five year old will accomplish one day and see what he's going to do."

Power adds he is honoured to have been able to share their stories and he hopes to show that people with down syndrome are out there doing stuff, and he wants to get people to ask others about their world rather than assuming about it.