First teacher with Down syndrome in Argentina [Video]

November 7, 2016

As a young woman, Noelia Garella dreamed of a day she could stand in front of a classroom and teach students of her own. But as a young Argentine with Down syndrome, the odds were not in her favor.

Garella faced adversity from the start. When she was just a little girl, she was thrown out of a nursery school because people considered her a “monster,” according to Independent Journal Review. Doing her best to put it behind her, she forged on and obtained an education on her own.

With the help of her parents, some of her instructors and even the her town’s mayor, Garella formed a plan to take teaching classes so that she could teach two- and three-year-olds how to read. After a long road of overcoming prejudice against individuals with Down syndrome and other cognitive conditions, Garella became the first teacher in Argentina with Down syndrome.