A Moment with Riley

Tonight Riley told me something upsetting. Throughout last school year he was educating his peers on Down syndrome. He shared with them about the Buddy Walk, told them his sister had DS, and related this to another student with DS that they know. Well he just told me that some weeks back a friend of his told him that this older girl with DS is a "r-word." He said it in a disgusted way. To Riley's credit, he immediately said "That is not right," but he kept this in for weeks because he didn't know what else to do. He didn't want to tell on his friend and get him into trouble. Is this his fate that he has to deal with these microaggressions? We had a nice talk about it and talked about giving people another chance to see if they change, but if this friend still doesn't get it, why be friends with someone like that? I am always struck with what a mature soul Riley has - I am just so sad that he has to go through this because of the way the world is.

-Karyn