The Art of Inclusion for My Adult Son With Down Syndrome

My son Charlie had one of the best nights of his life two months ago.

To be fair, there were lots of beautiful young women with bright lipstick and stilettos chatting with him happily, but even before those conversations, Charlie was beaming.

At 28 years old, Charlie is a successful abstract artist and absolutely loves his job. For many years now, he has painted almost daily in his art studio, and has sold paintings to corporate and private collectors in the U.S. and abroad.

On that recent night Charlie’s painting, along with 24 other artists’ paintings, was presented at a Dallas art gallery. The paintings had been selected by a jury for an upcoming fundraiser for Dwell With Dignity, a nonprofit helping families escape poverty and homelessness through design.

Charlie and I arrived at the show, and he immediately spotted his painting among the others.

“It’s me!” he declared.

The joy on his face was contagious, and Charlie’s smile practically shouted: I belong! I fit in here! This feels amazing!

We took pictures. We posted on Instagram. We may have had a little champagne.

As I watched Charlie answer questions from one of those lovely young ladies who also happened to have previously purchased one of his paintings, I was flooded with memories of inclusion-done-well: Charlie as a red-eyed tree frog in his school’s kindergarten play, Charlie hitting a baseball in a Little League game, Charlie emceeing his fifth-grade talent show, Charlie leading an experiment in his ninth-grade physics class.

To be clear, the reality is that inclusive opportunities often diminish as our children grow into adults. But there is still no question in my mind that the benefits of them absolutely do not. Not at all.

And for Charlie French especially, inclusion matters for a lifetime.