{"id":243081,"date":"2021-04-12T17:44:57","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T22:44:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=243081"},"modified":"2021-04-10T15:51:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T20:51:29","slug":"photographer-down-syndrome-tiktok-naysayers-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/photographer-down-syndrome-tiktok-naysayers-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Photographer with Down syndrome creates viral TikTok about proving naysayers wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Houston Vandergriff is a 23-year-old photographer who has traveled the world. He’s been to 48 states, almost 30 countries, and won awards for his work. He’s even dabbled in acting, appearing on an episode of the true crime show “Homicide Hunter,” as well as modeling. He also has Down syndrome, and a recent TikTok where Vandergriff showed how he proved all the naysayers wrong has gone viral.<\/p>\n

In the video, Vandergriff does a riff on a popular trend, where the “Bongo Cha Cha Cha” audio is accompanied by stories of how creators have surpassed expectations. Starting in a white lab coat, Vandergriff mimes talking, with a caption reading, “The doctors to my parents: we’re so sorry your son has Down syndrome.” He then continued miming, this time mimicking people who didn’t believe in him. “Everybody else,” the next caption read. “That’s so sad he’ll never be able to do anything.”<\/p>\n

Vandergriff then danced with his tongue out, holding one of his photographs, and wrote, “Me at 23 years old, being an award winning travel photographer who has been to 26 countries.”<\/p>\n