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Happy Friday. Something that's going to brighten your day.
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico -- What makes Tim's Place restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico so special is that it is, indeed, Tim's Place.
Tim Harris is the only restaurant owner in the country with Down syndrome. For the last five years he has lived for his business, which is why his customers were shocked when Tim announced recently that he'd be closing.
"My customers cry a lot into my arms," he explained.
Reality TV ruins everything. The genre feeds off stereotypes, linking the twinned emotions of fascination and disgust. It thrives by portraying its subjects as Other, rendering them as objects to loathe, mock, desire or praise. If there’s something you really care about, the last thing you should want is to see it portrayed on reality TV.So it was with intense trepidation that I watched the first two episodes of “Born This Way,” a six-episode show from the A&E network about seven Californian millennials with Down syndrome. I am the father of a boy with Down syndrome and a critic of the ways we portray disability in the media. There’s so much wrong with how we represent Down syndrome in particular, but reality TV seemed like the worst possible vehicle to correct those wrongs.
John, 28, is a budding rap artist; Rachel, 32, is very independent and has worked for the past three years as a mail-room assistant; Sean, 21, is a ladies’ man; Megan, 22, lives in Denver, goes to college and has her own business, but is determined to relocate to Los Angeles to become a film producer.
They are among the seven young adults whose lives intertwine in the new six-episode A&E real-life series “Born This Way,” premiering Tuesday, Dec. 8. You might expect to find the seven on shows like “Big Brother” or “The Real World,” except for the one thing they all have in common: They were born with Down syndrome.You won’t forget that fact as you watch the show’s premiere — that’s the last thing the show’s producers or most of its cast members would want. But in so many other ways, what they all go through in their day-to-day lives is a lot like what other people their age go through. They have career dreams and life plans; they love hanging out, listening to music, going bowling. But perhaps the most important take-away from the first episode is that while they all have Down syndrome, it doesn’t make them all the same.
