Rita Winkler is a young woman with Down syndrome. She was born in Calgary, Alberta, and currently lives in Toronto, Ontario. Rita works in the Coffee Shed in New College at the University of Toronto, part of the Common Ground Cooperative, a social purpose enterprise. Rita enjoys social media, listening to music, watching movies, writing newsletter articles, and being with friends and family in her free time. The foundation for Rita’s art journey was laid by the excellent art program at DANI-Toronto. Rita’s mom, Helen, who previously had no training in art, is Rita’s art facilitator. She devises adaptive techniques to allow Rita to overcome disability-related barriers to the art creation process. Rita, Helen, and her Uncle Mark Winkler from Kenora collaborated on a children’s book, My Art, My World, recently published by Second Story Press. It tells the story of Rita’s day-to-day life through her art and offers the message of inclusion. The book hfas brought Rita’s art to the attention of the greater community who say that Rita’s art makes them smile. This alone proves the benefit of sharing art created by people of all abilities with the world.

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