Years ago, Melissa Hart took her brother Mark to a bar on Halloween day in Eugene. They were drinking beer and Mark was dressed as Michael Jackson. But some college boys came up and made fun of Mark and were unkind to him.

Hart has loved her brother from the moment he was born, even though doctors told the parents to “put him into an institution” due to his Down syndrome. Their mom declined, and instead took him to physical therapy, which helped a lot with basic physical activities and more. 

Down syndrome is a genetic condition where a person is born with an extra chromosome, which can affect how their brain and body develop, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

People were dancing to the music, and then “Thriller” came on. Mark went up to the dance floor — “he is an incredible dancer,” Hart says. “Then suddenly, he was surrounded by beautiful young women, and those boys shut up,” she adds with a laugh. 

In Hart’s latest book, Down Syndrome Out Loud, she shares real, incredible and funny moments of more than 20 people’s lives who have Down syndrome. “I wasn’t afraid to be fun,” Hart says, “There’s a lot of humor when you are growing up with a sibling who has physical and intellectual disabilities.”

Since the book got published June 3, Hart has traveled all over Oregon, and even to Palm Springs, California, inviting people featured in the book to join her in the book events.

“It is exciting to see how proud those people are, to finally have their stories represented in a book, and have people in the community come up to book stores and conferences and learn their stories,” she says. “They are finally getting recognition that they really deserved.”

Hart was thanked by many people with Down syndrome and their families, who say, “This is the book we needed for so long. This is the book my brother and I needed growing up” — a book for a boy with Down syndrome and his sister. 

Hart talked with more than 20 people for the book and shared a little bit of their stories. Karen Gaffney of Portland is one of those. Gaffney is a distance swimmer and Down syndrome activist. She swam across the English Channel as part of a relay team, then across Lake Tahoe, which is nine miles wide. And yes, she is still swimming. She gets into the pool at 6 am and swims two miles a day five or six days a week. 

“She writes about people who are doing great things in this book, and I just really appreciate being included with all those people,” Gaffney says of Hart’s book. Gaffney has given many presentations around the U.S. and overseas in Ireland, England, Singapore and Trindad. In June, Gaffney and Hart did a booksigning event at Portland’s Powell’s Bookstore, and Gaffney says people had great questions and she “had fun autographing books.”

Hart has also learned about different resources available for people with Down syndrome through meeting people while writing the book. 

Her brother was able to receive physical therapy at an early age, which enabled him to walk well and even dance like a star at a bar; however, he can not speak well. “He and I kind of have a secret language,” she says. He also needed speech therapy. 

In November, Tsunami Books will host Hart for a reading from Down Syndrome Out Loud and a Q&A with her and fellow author Brian Trapp, the director of Disability Studies at University of Oregon and the author of the debut novel Range of Motion, which will be published in October. Hart and Trapp both grew up with siblings who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, and they will talk about their newest books and how their lived experiences informed the books.

 A Q&A session with Melissa Hart and Brian Trapp is 6 pm to 7 pm, Thursday, Nov. 13, at Tsunami Books, 2585 Willamette Street. In the meantime, you can buy Down Syndrome Out Loud at Tsunami Books, at J. Michaels Books, 160 East Broadway # A, and Hodgepodge Books & Taproom, 158 East 14th Avenue, or online at Bookshop.org.