Woman With Down’s Syndrome Fulfills Her Dream of Presenting the Weather on TV

A French woman with Down’s Syndrome fulfilled a lifelong ambition on Sunday by presenting the weather forecast on national television.

Mélanie Ségard, 21, provided a summary of the weekend weather on France 2 after challenging broadcasters to take her on if she received 100,000 likes on her Facebook page “Melanie can do it,” Agence France-Presse reports.

The page, set up by advocacy group UNAPEI, picked up 200,000 likes within ten days, earning Segard two offers from French television channels. She is also set to present the weather on news channel BFMTV at the end of the month.

“I’ve done it, I’m finally a weather girl,” Ségard tweeted after the broadcast, “I am different, but I can do lots of things.”

In an interview with French newspaper Le Parisien, Segard — who reportedly cannot read or write — said that it was her “dream” to present the weather. “And this can open doors to other people with disabilities,” she said, according to the BBC.

Down’s Syndrome is a genetic intellectual disability caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21. According to the World Health Organization, it affects about one in 1,000 people.

[AFP]