You’re Not Afraid, 2024
The Freeing Teresa audiobook is now available on Audible! The audiobook features a full cast of thirteen actors, including Jackie Blackmore as Franke James and Lauren Potter as Teresa Heartchild. The cast really brings the story to life!
To hear a sneak preview of the book, watch our first Book Trailer. It’s a video based on the red-hot conversation from Chapter 16, “They Can’t Send Her Back.” That’s when Franke tries to convince her older sister, Siobhan (played by Paula Hoffman), that the family should consider other housing alternatives for Teresa. The back-and-forth dialogue is bookended by excerpts from Teresa’s poem, “Those Monsters,” which appears in the epigraph at the front of the book. Plus, we’ve added a music soundtrack, “Call of Fate” by Alex Bess, which highlights the tension between the sisters.
Of course, an audiobook does not have visuals. So, in the book trailer, we incorporated the actual video footage from the day Teresa was rescued and discharged from the nursing home. It was shot ten years ago with an iPad, so it is low resolution and very jittery, but it does add a bit of cinema verité, which contributes to the drama.
If you want to hear a longer sample from the audiobook, head over to audible.com, where you can listen to the complete first chapter.
Listen to Chapter One: The Silver Recorder
Listen to Freeing Teresa on Audible.com
Assume that I Can, 2024
Teresa’s World Down Syndrome Day video
“Ten years ago, people assumed my sister’s life at 49 was over. Teresa Heartchild fought back. 25,000 people signed her petition. Her supporters sent a public letter to the Ont. Minister of Health. And finally, the govt apologized,” says Franke James. “Now Teresa is free. But thousands of others are getting put into nursing homes.”
“The deprivation of liberty on the basis of disability is a human rights violation on a massive global scale.” Catalina Devandas-Aguilar UN Special Rapporteur.
#WDSD #AssumeThatICan
I Feel Good, World Down Syndrome Day, 2024
Get your Tee from Down Syndrome BC: https://www.downsyndromebc.ca/shop
“I Feel Good” by All Good Folks: License code: 2WXFH5MKAKI1SGXT
Soul Healing Sisters, 2024
“Giving foot spas brought me closer to my sister with Down syndrome.”
Teresa closes her eyes and smiles, saying, “Ahh, that feels good.” I agree; it feels great when I have my feet washed and toenails trimmed – I just never expected to give a pedicure to my younger sister with Down syndrome! And as those moments gradually added up over the last decade, I realized that we were both healing our souls as sisters.
“I became my sister’s carer overnight.”
You might think I’ve always been the caregiver type, but no. I unexpectedly stepped into the role due to the difficult circumstances which I talk about in Freeing Teresa. Looking back, the moment of change was unexpected and fast. Without knowing what was happening, Teresa was taken away from our father and suddenly put into a nursing home by my brother. Teresa was traumatized, crying and scared. My other siblings said that she would be “safe” in the long-term care facility, but I was shocked. It certainly wasn’t what Teresa wanted. Thankfully we rescued her and she came to live with me. But it changed our lives forever.
“I’ve learned that good caregiving is just kindness.”
Teresa Goes to the Dentist, 2024
Why a dental clinic for people with disabilities is so essential
Happy Valentine’s Day! ❤️ A shoutout to all the #siblings, #caregivers and helpers out there! For most people, going to the dentist is not something we do for fun. My sister Teresa Heartchild feels the same way. Since I jumped into the role of a caregiver (over ten years ago) I’ve helped my sister go to the dentist many times. It always presents a whole bunch of challenges. Some of them can be met by explaining (in advance) why the visit is necessary, lots of good humour, and promising (edible) rewards! But convincing her also requires going to the right place. In Teresa’s case, that’s a dental clinic for people with disabilities. My story, “Teresa Goes to the Dentist,” is about our recent trip for a routine checkup.
Most dentists don’t have the patience for patients like Teresa
Experience taught us that it was necessary for Teresa to go to a specialized dental clinic. We found that most regular dentists don’t have the patience for patients like her! They’re on a strict time-clock and Teresa doesn’t abide by one. She demands a lot more time.
That’s because many little things are required to make Teresa comfortable and cooperative. (She’s even more wary of dentists since she had an infected tooth extracted last summer that required a hospital stay. Ouch!)
When we arrived for her routine visit, the hygienist explained to Teresa how she was going to clean her teeth. Then she patiently explained again—because repetition is often needed especially when it’s news Teresa doesn’t like. She got Teresa seated comfortably in the reclining dental chair. She let Teresa feel the bristles of the toothbrush with her fingers. Next she gave Teresa a hand mirror to watch what was happening. Teresa was relaxed throughout the whole tooth cleaning procedure. Then the dentist came in, peered at Teresa through dental loupes and gave Teresa the A-OK. Asked where she was going next, Teresa said happily, “The Flying Pig!”
So the cake helped, too!
Music by Kidcut
License code: KRZ9ZQJLRNBFIBAP
Deep Down Arts, 2019
In November 2019, Teresa flew to Mérida to see her art exhibited in the Deep Down Arts show. Canada Council approved her Arts Abroad Travel Grant for her past trip to Mexico. The Deep Down Arts Exhibition was organized by the Macay Foundation. Teresa says, “Gracias!” to the Canada Council and Spectrum Society‘s McGill Ability Fund, for the grants to travel to the opening event in Mérida, Mexico on November 8, 2019.
Born to Represent, 2019
“I was born with what was seen to be a disability,” raps Teresa. “But no, no, no. It’s just me, me, me… living in reality.” Teresa has Down syndrome and is proud of her identity. Nevertheless, the discrimination and adversity she has experienced as a result of her genetic condition have inspired her to find her voice as an artist, author, and self-advocate.
Musical Eggs, 2018
“Musical Eggs” is a musical EGGS-perience composed and performed by Teresa Heartchild. Played on a “Push 2” keyboard (and two dozen eggs).
Screened at SFU Woodward’s Emerge Festival Showcase for DTES Small Arts Grant Winners. Thank you to the Vancouver Foundation for their support.
“I Am Alive” by Teresa Heartchild, 2016
What does Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside look like through the eyes of an artist—an artist who also happens to have Down syndrome? The heart of Pretty Amazing is the unexpected story of Teresa Heartchild finding herself as an artist and poet. Previously, Teresa’s artistic expression was discouraged and ridiculed. Her opening poem, I Am Alive, packs added punch when you know that her future was written off a few years ago when she lived in Ontario. Teresa was forced into an Ontario nursing home against her will. The health-care system had wrapped her in—as disability advocate Paul Young aptly describes it —“a cocoon of impossibility.”. Against her wishes, Teresa’s liberty and freedom was traded for a single bed in an end-of-life nursing home. It was a violation of her human rights. She did not want to be there. Teresa had things to do, places to go, and people to meet! In the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, Teresa has found her voice. It is a voice that talks about feeling “butterflies” but still finds the courage to fly.
I AM ALIVE
Hello.
Be nice to everyone.
Look, I am alive.
You have to be nice.
I am doing fine.
Thank goodness.
I have to be nice to them.
And to the others.
That’s a brilliant idea!
You’re thinking.
And I’m thinking too.
I think we need to make a list of the things we need.
Right. I’m alive. Nesters. Flying Pig. Prado.
We love it here.
Everybody loves me.
You guys are alright, I know.
You guys, I am born. I am alive.
Redeemed.
Okay, I am reborn.
In Gastown.
See more about Teresa’s book and artwork at www.teresaheartchild.com
Power-Walking for Disability Rights, 2014
Teresa Heartchild Power Walks: Forced into a Nursing Home at 49. Now She’s Free!
Watch Teresa Heartchild ‘power walk’ — and ask yourself how anyone could think she belongs in a nursing home! It is crazy! Who would deny Teresa her freedom?
See Teresa’s petition: Change.org
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened last November. Teresa, who has Down syndrome, was forced against her will into an old-age nursing home by the CCAC and two of my siblings. Four days later, she was rescued by my 91-year-old father, who was “adamant” that he did not want his daughter living in a nursing home.
But then the nursing home called the police in a shockingly callous and bizarre effort to force her back.
By signing this petition, you can help Teresa get an apology for the harm done to her. Teresa is asking the CCAC to apologize for wrongly taking away her human right to decide where she lives. Teresa is asking the Rekai Centre to apologize for calling the police in a completely unnecessary, intimidating and callous attempt to force her back into their institution.
We need to stand strong to protect the rights of developmentally disabled people so that what Teresa experienced does not happen to anyone else.
Please sign Teresa’s petition because human rights should be for everybody.
Music Credit: Dan-O at http://danosongs.com
Song Title: Book of the Monkey
Human Rights Should Be for Everybody, 2014
With the stroke of a pen, my disabled sister’s human right to decide where she lives was wrongly taken away in 2013. In a heart-breaking move, Teresa, who has Down syndrome, was “placed” against her wishes into a long-term care “nursing” home by the Ontario healthcare system. Four days later, she was rescued by my 91-year-old father, who was “adamant” he did not want his daughter living in a nursing home. (Teresa came to live with me, her sister.) But then the nursing home called the police in a shockingly callous and bizarre effort to force her back.
See the presentation I made with Teresa to the Ontario Government’s Select Committee in January 2014: Teresa’s Story: Crisis, Capacity and Courage. The Select Committee acknowledged in their July 2014 report, “Long-term care homes are pressured to accommodate young and middle-aged people with developmental disabilities without any medical need for this type of care or any training to support this group of clients.”
Since 2013, Teresa has been demanding a full apology from the Ontario government, the CCAC and the long-term care home.