Evelyne Faye
Author, documentary filmmaker
* 1976 in Paris
Happy with her job, her partner, and their child together, Evelyne led a bright, content life. When her second child was born, however, she went through a life crisis. Her daughter was born with Downsyndrome and Evelyne feared what the future would bring.
But Emma Lou was like a magical little being to her parents. She teaches them to see the world with new eyes. Even when things don’t go according to plan, life can still be beautiful and filled with hope – if you are prepared to embrace your new reality. For this, you must let go of previous notions of what a perfect life should entail and how you envisioned your future. Evelyne managed to do exactly this.
Evelyne shared her experiences in a gorgeous book. The book shines a light on the kind of fears and anxieties that parents experience. It doesn’t attempt to conceal their grief, and it presents perspectives that are both honest and encouraging. Evelyne’s story will move and comfort you. It is enlightening, offers hope, and stays with you. But most of all, she encourages other parents to carry a child with trisomy 21 to full term rather than terminate a pregnancy.
The book is a declaration of love, both to her daughter and to life. It is uncertainty and the unknown that scare us. Evelyne’s strengths lie in this awareness and in her ability for self-reflection and emotional transparency. She has managed to conquer her fears and focus on the positive. Her family now experiences happiness on a new level thanks to the support of friends, neighbours, and doctors, but more so because of love, patience, and trust.
In her work, Evelyne continues to raise societal awareness, as well as advocate for greater recognition and acceptance of people who do not fit the „norm“. With other colleagues, she has just published an interactive and multilingual app version of the book. Currently her documentary film THE WAY YOU SHINE that follows people with Downsyndrome on their quest for happiness at different life stages is out in the movies.
Evelyne is a strong advocate for normalising being different and the necessity of inclusion. Because every child is unique.