{"id":224930,"date":"2020-06-05T14:45:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T19:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=224930"},"modified":"2020-06-04T22:58:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-05T03:58:58","slug":"photographer-down-syndrome-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/photographer-down-syndrome-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"Award-winning photographer with Down syndrome ‘just one of the guys’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As a 25-year-old co-owner of a successful photography business, Geoffrey Mikol is an accomplished entrepreneur by any standard. The galleries on his website<\/a> feature picturesque or humorous outdoor scenes from locations across the country, and his professional skill and talent are evident. Mikol also happens to have Down syndrome, and, as he told Illinois Country Living<\/a> magazine, he wants people to notice his skill first, on its own merits, and his disability later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want people to like my art because it\u2019s good, not because I have Downs,” he said. Mikol’s gallery co-owner and father Paul told Illinois Country Living\u00a0that he appreciates his son’s acceptance amongst the other small business owners in Galena, Illinois. “One of the things I love so much is that Geoffrey is just another business owner to them. He\u2019s part of the family of Galena. It\u2019s cool that he\u2019s accepted as one of the guys. It\u2019s all he ever wanted and all I ever wanted.”<\/p>\n

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