🐱 Inside the UK's first Down's syndrome drag night

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CatParty
http://www.itv.com/news/2018-06-07/drag-syndrome-inside-the-uks-first-downs-syndrome-drag-night/

The UK's first drag event featuring performers with Down's syndrome will pave the way for more inclusivity in the arts, organisers say.

"Drag Syndrome" welcomed five newcomers to the drag scene, one of them being Otto Baxter, 30, an award-winning actor and filmmaker.

The Shakespearean actor is no stranger to the stage, but believes the act has helped improve his confidence and self-esteem.

"I've really enjoyed being a drag - I definitely got more confident and I'm more comfortable."

He added: "Being a drag is actually dazzling, darlings."

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Credit: ITV News
Daniel Vais, the event's creative director, believes the project has challenged stereotypes and allowed many people with Down's syndrome to express themselves through a new style of performance.

While London's drag scene has warmly welcomed the event, they are aware they may face criticism.

"I think some people will find it uncomfortable because they feel uncomfortable with a different sex wearing the opposite sex's outfit in general, so it's not because they are Down's syndrome," he told ITV News.

"But you saw the artists are really up for it and this is part of their artistic practice, so this is what we focus on - on ourselves, not the outside."

About 750 babies with Down's syndrome are born in the UK each year and it is a condition that affects people of all ages and ethnicities.

According to the Down's syndrome Association, there are approximately 40,000 peoplewith Down's syndrome living in the UK.

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Credit: ITV News
Otto's mother Lucy revealed her pride at seeing her son - along with his three brothers - channeling their creativity through drag.

"The reason that I adopted four people with Down's syndrome was because I used to go to an old Victorian hospital where people with Down's syndrome were just shut away," she said.

"I recognised that they were very, very talented and very interesting people who we had just shunned - so actually seeing them doing this is just what I dreamed of back then."

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Credit: ITV News
Daniel now plans to take Drag Syndrome to a global audience, with numerous clubs across the world making offers to host the night.

"I think it's new for contemporary culture to include people with learning disabilities in avant-garde culture or in high culture - or in high fashion. It's quite new to everyone, but from what I see - it works really well, really, really well actually."
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www.woodtv.com

Project 1 kickoff will include Down syndrome drag show

A few weeks out from Project 1 by ArtPrize, the public art event in Grand Rapids is sparking controversy and conversation.
www.woodtv.com www.woodtv.com
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A few weeks out from Project 1 by ArtPrize, the public art event in Grand Rapids is sparking controversy and conversation, just like the competition.

Part of Project 1 will be art events, including one on the first day by Drag Syndrome. The London-based group advertises itself as “the world’s first drag troop featuring highly addictive drag queens and kings with Down’s Syndrome!”

Drag Syndrome has become popular in Europe. During Project 1, the members will perform with three local drag artists who have various disabilities.

“We sought them out because they are at the very highest level of disability drag,” said event organizer Jill Vyn of DisArt, a Grand Rapids organization that connects art and people with disabilities.

“The work that we do is really rooted in raising the visibility, the voice and value of the disability community,” Vyn said.

“Drag has never only been about sexuality,” DisArt co-founder Christopher Smit said. “Drag is about gender performance, drag is about expression. Drag is also about ridding the culture of damaging stereotypes.

“People with Down syndrome or any disabled person has at their disposal multiple art forms that they look for to get out into the world their version of life and their own identity. So judging these people only on their Down syndrome, that’s the same thing as judging someone from race,” he continued.

Smit said controversy happens when truth gets told and that the truth they are trying to tell is that disability is not something to run away and hide from.

“There is some mystery, there is some potential controversy, but in the end we hope this is an invitation for our community to move forward,” Vyn said.

“We recognize that not everyone is going to love this show, not everyone is going to think it’s for them. And that’s OK,” Vyn said.

The show is Sept. 7 at 7 p.m.
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I thought I read another news about that. Please God or somebody in the sky, don't let this become the new LGBTTTTT trend, we have a lot of shit already in there. And one question, where are their tard wanglers?
 
“Down syndrome ... affects a person’s ability to think, reason, understand, and be social. The effects range from mild to moderate,” according to webmd.com.
Viewers of the show, who know that those with Down syndrome did not conceive and put together this troupe on their own.
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This is pretty fucked up, the way they are using them like this, they don't even properly understand what's going on and that they are being exploited in a very similar way to those drag kids

I did chuckle a little at the tards with drag make up on though ngl
 
Corrupting children wasn’t enough for these monsters so now they’re going after tards.
 
They look like the starring characters of some weird anime crossover that nobody asked for.
 
To me, this is worse than the drag kid thing. At least with the drag kids I can hold out hope that they grow up, realise what their parents did to them, and brutally kill them.
 
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