News from LINC

Powering Independence!

Comedy Offers Life Skills to those with Down Syndrome

    The Northeast Ohio based Stand Up for Downs group has turned to Zoom to continue its work of utilizing comedy to help build confidence and life skills for the Down syndrome community. The group was founded by Canton Ohio native Rob Snow. It all began with a very personal talk to groups and conventions drawing on his family’s experiences mixed with some humor honed from a stink at the famous Second City improv group.

He started offering improv classes locally for those with Down syndrome. These have grown with classes springing up across the country. When the pandemic hit they found an even bigger audience on Zoom. Now there are dozens of classes in all 50 states and Canada. It’s more than simply learning how to tell “knock-knock” jokes. By using humor, and more specifically, the improv exercises, it frees those in the classes to simply be themselves and learn some life skills along the way. They also learn to laugh and make others laugh too.

They have turned to YouTube to promote a new show, “Yes, and a Guest” that features Snow along with an instructor named Jenna Swan. Their second episode was posted recently and features comedian Colin Mochri of “Whose Line is it Anyway” fame. The five minute show features a few interview questions and then a series of improv exercises to try and one-up one another.
To learn more about the program visit https://www.standupfordowns.org/the-improvaneer-method

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