Life with Down Syndrome

At 35, Gabe Kavookjian spends his days much like many people: watching favorite movies, cooking, walking to a nearby farm shop, working, and hoping to find a partner. But he is acutely aware that others see him as different because he has Down syndrome. The account follows his daily routines and ambitions without treating his diagnosis as a complete explanation of who he is. Gabe says he would take a cure if one existed, yet he also recognizes that people with Down syndrome vary widely in their abilities and experiences. He enjoys solitude as well as company, and his wish for a relationship is complicated by the difficulty of dating and by not being able to drive.

Gabe has worked for eleven years at the Prospector, a theater whose central mission is to provide meaningful, well-paid jobs for adults with disabilities. He helps produce and film promotional videos, drawing on college production classes and an intense interest in how movies are made. He hopes his work might eventually lead to opportunities in Hollywood. The theater gives him colleagues, friendships, and a place to develop his talents, though seeing former high-school friends with spouses and children can sharpen his sense of what he wants and does not yet have. His memories also include both the acceptance he felt playing football in high school and the cruelty of childhood teasing. Together, these details show a life shaped by real barriers and disappointments, but also by persistence, work, interests, and personal aspirations.