Dylan Kuehl is 38 years old and has spent his whole life hearing what he would not be able to do.
He was born with Down syndrome, in a world that often measures people by their limitations rather than their determination. But he always liked studying, painting, dancing, and above all, writing. So he enrolled at The Evergreen State College in Washington, and stayed. Class after class, semester after semester, until he became the first student with Down syndrome to earn a four-year degree in the university’s 51-year history — and the first in the entire state to achieve it.
Of the 900 graduates in his class, the professors chose him, among only three people, to speak at the ceremony. In front of everyone, he said: ‘Celebrate your abilities. Live life with ambition and pride.’ In addition to being a student, Kuehl is a musician, artist, and owner of his own business. His message was clear: barriers are almost never in the person; they are in the doors that someone chooses not to open.