Lenny Seberry's 7q11.23 Dup, Sally's Journey (Australia, 2023) offers a thoughtful, hopeful look at themes surrounding 7q11.23 duplication syndrome, intellectual disability and the transition to young adulthood. Screening in the Focus on Ability festival, the short explores achievement, independence and the role of supportive communities in everyday life. It pays attention to cognitive processing differences while celebrating individual strengths without reducing people to labels. Presented as part of our programme that highlights ability and access, this film invites viewers to reflect on inclusion and the practical supports that help young adults pursue their goals.
My name is Sallyan Bawa and my condition is 7Q11 totally duplication syndrome. The first 18 months of Sally's life she had many setbacks, reoccurring tonsillitis, croup, a low immune system, contracting the measles when she was only a few months old. Her sounds and her milestones just weren't happening and we knew something was wrong then. 7Q11.23 duplication is the duplication of genetic material in a person's DNA. A person with the duplication may experience impaired speech, selective mutism, limited social skills, challenging behaviours, autism spectrum disorder and medical complications with the heart, kidneys and digestive tract. The overall lack of understanding about the duplication by professionals and communities can leave families struggling to find support, information and therapeutic interventions. For those with the duplication it can be challenging to find friends, navigate family dynamics, attend school without special education services, find meaningful employment or live independently without support. Growing up was hard for me and my family and I thought that I didn't fit in or belong at school. We were told that I only got 10 to 15% of my speech as I only did talk with very limited sounds. Sallyan attended a couple of primary schools before we could find the right one that had the right support for her. It wasn't easy, she was bullied at several schools that she'd been to and eventually found a school that had the right learning support and the perfect environment for Sally to thrive. When we moved to Sunshine Court, I went to Coorana High School and they had great learning support education for me. I did well here and finished U12 and I showed all the professionals that I can do it and I even won the arts awards and it really showed me that there's so much more is possible. I'm Ruth, I am a kinesiologist and EFT practitioner. I met Sally about five years ago when she came to me to try and help her with building her confidence and her speech and lots of different things. In that five years you've come a huge way, haven't you Sally? Yes. The first time I met her she struggled to say her name, she struggled to keep eye contact and now I see this amazing woman who has her own job, is about to move into her own place with her partner and has just been so persistent in working and really pushing herself that whole way. My name's Danika, I've been a support worker for a year and a half now. When I first started working with Sally, she lived at home with her parents so a lot of my role was to help her just with community access, so just getting her out, helping her with her shopping, cooking was a big thing at that time as well, so meal prepping, helping with cooking dinners and lunches for her work days as well, picking her up from work and just doing any jobs or getting her to appointments that she needed to go to. It was more I guess how to do things independently and teaching her how to cook on her own and how to read bus timetables. Recently it's been counting money, so knowing how to give back change and doing a fair bit of work on that. This is my partner, Jayden. When I was four years old, I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, but now that meeting Sally, who has her own quirks as well, me having a bit of a disadvantage, but we have not let that stop us achieving what we want, buying our own house together, and the message to anyone out there is it doesn't matter what your disadvantages or your quirks are, you're capable of achieving anything with the right amount of support and people in your life. And even if you get knocked down many, many times, you just got to get back up and keep going. Thank you for watching my story. I hope it inspires you and anyone out there. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of those impacted by 7q11.23 duplication. Learn more at duplicationcares.org.
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7q11.23 Dup, Sally's Journey by Lenny Seberry (2023)
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