Mia Peterson, a woman with Down syndrome, trailblazed a lifetime of achievements by defying expectations through self-advocacy, writing and public speaking.
Mia Peterson, a woman with Down syndrome, spent her life breaking barriers as a self-advocate, writer and public speaker. Her motto: take the challenge, take the risk. Her work empowered advocates and self advocates to let people with Down syndrome speak for themselves.
Transcript
(On-screen text: 1999 Supported Life Conference)
[Mia Peterson] Don't let anyone take your dreams away. When you have a chance to do something that's important to you.
[Narrator] When Mia Peterson was born with Down syndrome in 1973, expectations were low.
[Carol Peterson, Mia's Mother] One of the doctors was, determined to tell us to not, expect too much out of this little child.
[Narrator] Mia created opportunities for herself, including learning to read before entering Kindergarten.
[Carol] When Mia kind of wanted to be in the general education class at least part of the day, it was really administrators who were saying, "Oh, and we just wouldn't want Mia to fail." She wanted to have every opportunity that her sisters had, even if it meant that it was hard.
(On-screen text: 2004 Advocacy in Action Conference)
[Mia] I was in a class with all boys with behavior problems. I was really trying to be a better reader and writer.
[Carol] And Mia was a serious student, and she was really irritated by the high jinks and the messing around of all these boys. So she asked her teacher if she could please get out of that reading class and go to a different class. And her teacher said, "I'm so sorry, Mia. It's all in the computer. You know, it's really beyond my control."
(On-screen text: 2004 Advocacy in Action Conference)
[Mia] I didn't know how to respond back. And so I went back to my desk. The only power I had was in my writing and I wrote a letter, and again, I'm repeating myself. I said, "I want to get out of this one class. So I can start taking other classes that I wanted to take. So take that and put that into your computer of yours." She got upset when I passed it in, but I got what I wanted in return.
[Carol] Mia loved the fact that her oldest sister was a writer. Because Mia admired her being a writer so much, Mia wanted to develop her own writing, and she did.
[Narrator] When her younger sister ran cross-country, Mia decided she would too.
[Mike Peterson, Mia's Father] A cross-country course is two miles long, you, must be able to run two miles. By fall, she could run two miles without walking, without stopping to walk. And she also got busy and wrote a letter to the cross-country coach, we, have heard from an the coach, says he still has the letter, and he he used that as a kind of a motivational tool.
[Narrator] Her coach described Mia as one of the most determined athletes and most successful people he has ever coached.
[Mike] The team members would run out and encourage her, and, it moves me.
[Narrator] After high school Mia found an organization searching for writers with Down Syndrome. Mia, with her dad, and writing portfolio in tow, traveled to Los Angeles.
[Mike] We went out to Los Angeles and, presented her portfolio that evening that we arrived and the next morning, this woman searched Mia out of the crowd and offered her a job. Everything kind of was a springboard. She was given the opportunity to take some chances, do some—attempt some things where she might fail. But she developed these skills, and they served her well.
(Mia stands with Governor Terry Branstand.)
[Narrator] In 1996, Mia became the first person with Down Syndrome to serve on what is now the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council.
(On-screen text: "1999 Supported Life Conference")
(Mia speaks to a crowd from a podium.)
[Mia] Do what is important to you because only you know what's important to you. You've got to stick to your own dreams, follow your own heart and start speaking from your gut.
[Narrator] At 24, Mia took a risk when offered to move from writing remotely to writing full time in Cincinnati.
[Mike] We drove to Cincinnati with her. Spent two nights while she got, moved into to her apartment. And then we got in our car and drove back to Webster City, Iowa. I think crying most of the way home.
[Carol] All the way home.
(Laughs)
[Narrator] Mia thrived as a writer while living on her own. She continued her education, perfecting her presentation skills while starting to build her self-advocacy business: Aiming High. And an opportunity was about to change everything.
[Carol] Mia had been approached by a woman who was a professor at UCLA. She was a linguist. And she was really interested in how people with Down syndrome learned language, and she developed a survey.
[Mike] Mia was a data collector. She was so appreciative of Mia's work that, she insisted Mia be recognized as the co-researcher on this paper.
[Narrator] The National Down Syndrome Congress took notice of that paper, initially inviting Dr. Meyers to present the findings at their national conference.
[Mike] And Dr. Meyers said, "Well, I will come to the conference, but my co researcher, Mia Peterson, will present the paper." And the program did not say that Mia had Down syndrome. She stepped up there and started presenting this paper with the accompanying slides and, we witnessed that this noisy, kind of out of control room, it just started getting quieter and quieter until it was absolutely dead silent.
(Photographs of Mia with Tom Vilsack and Senator Charles Grassley.)
[Narrator] Mia became the first person with Down Syndrome to open the National Down Syndrome Congress. This moment solidified the speaking career that she had been working towards, becoming a sought after voice, traveling the country to share her message — let people with disabilities speak for themselves.
(Mia stands at a podium with Senator Tom Harkin.)
Mia became the first person with Down syndrome to serve on the National Down Syndrome Society's board of directors, serving her role in Manhattan and presenting awards to celebrities at Tavern On the Green. In 2002, Mia carried an Olympic torch for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics.
[Mike] On the ten year anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA, there was a Senate hearing, where Mia was invited to be one of five presenters to the Senate panel.
[Narrator] Respect and dignity became her most important message.
[Mia] My name is Mia Peterson and I gotta say I am a self-advocate.
[Mike] Mia aspired to write a book, and her title was, "Take the Challenge. Take the Risk." That's one of Mia's slogans that we would hear from her and that she would include in her speaking career. She would talk about take the challenge, take the risk.
[Mia] And I hope within this presentation and all of you, yes, you, all of you advocates and self advocates, are speaking out, feeling like you are being included in your community.
[Mike] We would have people approached and ask us, how did you, raise Mia at to be so confident or articulate or enthusiastic and, of course, it was it was all Mia's doing.
[Carol] You know, we got out of the way and let Mia be Mia.
[Narrator] In 2021, Mia Peterson passed away, leaving a lifelong legacy of self-advocacy. The Iowa Developmental Disability Council created the Mia Peterson Self-Advocacy Award. The National Down Syndrome Society established a permanent board seat in her name. Governor Kim Reynolds proclaimed November 24, 2023 as Mia Peterson Day in Iowa.
[Mike] We met so many, individuals, from around the country who had just amazing skill sets. Mia wasn't the only one. And, the world has, I think, I'm happy to observe, come a long ways in 60 years and this is a very important measure of, of who we are as a society. You know, and how we allow everyone the opportunity to be their best selves.
[Carol] Mia, she was always clear about what her goal was. So I would suggest to people to keep your eye on the prize. Mia was always working at things step by step.
(On-screen text: 2002 Greenfield Schools)
(Mia on stage speaking from a podium.)
[Mia] I want the opportunity to keep being a self advocate because I know in it's one way I can make a difference.
[Narrator] Mia Peterson, an Iowan that showed us when we take the challenge and take the risk, we can change the world.