Young Chilean With Down Syndrome Succeeds In His Profession

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

At 23 years old Felipe Belmar has shown that he has an iron perseverance. Having Down syndrome was not an impediment for him to finish high school or for him to obtain a university degree in 2015. In this way he became the first young man with that kind of genetic disorder to finish a professional career in Chile, his native country.

In addition to his interest in studying, Belmar's triumph over every obstacle that life has presented him is also due to the unconditional support of his parents. "We were advancing on a path without setting limits," said his mother Trinidad Gutiérrez in an interview with CNN en Español. Her approach, she adds, was to give her "all the facilities and support in every way so that she would be the same as her brothers."

For his part, the father, Gonzalo Belmar, believes that what helped them was getting well informed about Down syndrome from the beginning. A cousin specialist in language problems, helped them understand the importance of early stimulation and inclusion. That led them to organize a group of parents with the same challenge in which they reunited seven children and together they created a better path for them.

Currently, this young specimen works in the Edudown organization in Chile, where he combines his two great passions: agriculture - he received an agricultural technician - and the inclusion of people with Down syndrome, since he grows food and medicinal plants there. time serving new students arriving at the center.

Last year Belmar was invited to the Chilean National Congress where they recognized his academic achievements and his efforts to promote the inclusion of people with disabilities in his country.

Today, when exploring the path traveled, he indicates: “It always costs at the beginning, there are difficulties, on the way there are stones”, but he indicates that thanks to the impulse of his parents, he has been able to overcome them.

Tireless, Belmar acknowledges that his fight is just beginning, since he wants to establish his own greenhouse and promote the inclusion of people with physical disabilities worldwide, because as he indicates: “Inclusion does not go through institutions, it happens through people being in the society.