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Rock Island, Ill. --History was made at Rock Island High School's homecoming coronation when senior John Garlock, born with Down syndrome 18 years ago, was crowned homecoming king.
''They (the kids) were screaming, John, John. I was loving it'', said John.
He won the most votes from the 1,555 member student body and the crowd went wild.
John's been in the public school system in Rock Island since daycare, and it wasn't always easy.
''The battles to get him included in school, and then to have the whole student body behind him'', his mom Janis said, with a couple tears streaming from her face. ''It was heart wrenching, it really was.''
''I was just euphoric, we didn't expect him to be on homecoming court, but to have him selected as king, was just absolutely amazing,'' his dad George said.
He credits his son's hard work and his mainstream education. ''Inclusion with normal students, rather than being 'warehoused'' somewhere else with only special needs kids. I'm very, very proud of him, he's worked very hard for what he's achieved''.
Garlock is a member of the National Honor Society because of his grades, a strong competitor in Special Olympics, a home run king on his Little League team, and the first to help a classmate or team-mate.
''He has a huge heart'', his mom said.
John says he loves his parents, his 21-year old sister, and has never met a stranger. He wants to work at the Milan Hyvee when he leaves high school.
His parents are not only proud of John, but of all his fellow students at Rock Island High School who embraced a ''non-stereotypical'' kind of king. They all broke a barrier, together.
''These are going to be his future peers, co-workers, and even supervisors, and I don't think they're going to hesitate hiring someone with special needs because of their experience with John, '' his mom said.
Pointing to the photos of himself in the homecoming parade, draped in his king robe, and wearing his crown, John smiles.
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
From WQAD-TV in Moline, Ill.:
