The mum of a teenage Liverpool FC model has said she has faced 'negativity' and 'hushed whispers' over the years.
Jessica Williams, who has Down's Syndrome, has already accomplished more in just 18 years than some people manage in a lifetime. Already a model and actress, with a love of thrilling sports like rock climbing, horse-riding and canoeing.
Her proud mum Nicola Houghton, 42, said: "I've always relied on Jessica to take the lead. I'm not going to let anybody tell her what she can and can't do. She has always been a strong self-advocate for people with Down's Syndrome."
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Like many people with Down's Syndrome, Jessica had a difficult start in life. Born with three holes in her heart, she had to undergo life-saving surgery and will live with a pacemaker for the rest of her life.
Nicola said: "I didn't have any indication when I was pregnant. She was a perfect pregnancy with no issues at all, she was growing as she should be, all her signs indicated she was a typically developing baby. So when she was born, it was a shock. It wasn't so much the Down's Syndrome as the fact she had three holes in her heart.
"There was a risk she might not survive the operation. Ideally the surgeon wanted to wait until she was three months old, but she was fading away in front of our eyes. She was just nine weeks when she had heart surgery - a tiny little thing.
"Once we got through that, she just amazed everyone. She was out in seven days. I just looked at her and thought to myself: you're meant to be here. And she's just been amazing people ever since."
As a model, Jessica, who attends Childwall Abbey School, has appeared in adverts for Snag Tights and Angelle Collection Ltd. In 2021 she was one of the faces of Liverpool FC's new kit, appearing on the team's Instagram page.
Nicola, from Aigburth, says she believes her daughter is challenging the perceptions people have about people with Down's Syndrome. And Jessica is taking on a new challenge as she is plunged 10,000ft from a soaring plane with a parachute strapped to her back. She will be the youngest woman in the UK with her condition to take part in a tandem skydive after completing the daring challenge over Cark Airfield in Flookburgh.
Her charity skydive, which raised more than £1,700 for Palmerston School for disabled children, almost never made it off the ground as organisers were concerned she did not have the capacity to make decisions for herself - until she convinced them she could.
Nicola said: "She's constantly looking for ways to achieve new things. She writes songs and it gives her a voice and a way to express herself. Sometimes Jessica isn't always understood, because her speech isn't always clear. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have anything to say. She has a lot to say.
"There's a lot of negativity in the assumptions that people make about her, but we would rather focus on the positive than spend our time fighting. A lot of things are said in hushed whispers. I'd rather people come to us and ask us directly what living with Down's Syndrome is like."
She added: "Jessica has extra issues that we have to overcome while she tries to find her place in the world. Now that she's 18 I think we are going to see a real transition as she enters the adult world. When she was little, she got a lot of support, but it seems to be that when you're older, then support goes away and the message is that you need to be independent, which is not attainable for some people."
She still hopes her daughter - who is currently away on an intrepid Duke of Edinburgh trip in Barnstone, camping, rock climbing and building campfires - will be able to live independently and have a family of her own.
She is preparing to enter the working world by completing work experience in the kitchens at Liverpool Hope University.
Nicola said: "I don't know what the future holds for Jess, but I'm as excited to find out as she is. I want her to have steady employment, to fall in love, to get married, to have her own home, just what any parent wants for their child.
"She's a hopeless romantic, always talking about when she will get a boyfriend. At the same time, I'm aware of how vulnerable she is and that the world isn't always a nice place. All I can do is support her and arm her with all the information about what's right in a relationship, and what's wrong. There's no reason why she shouldn't be allowed to fall in love. It's the best feeling in the world.
"Jess proves you don't have to be afraid of Down's Syndrome. If you see someone with Down's Syndrome, don't cross the road - look up and say hello. We're all trying to find out place in the world, and there's a place for all of us."
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