'We're All Lucas's Parents': Family Cheers First Gerber Baby With Down Syndrome
CANTON (CBS) - Gerber is using a child with Down syndrome as its new spokesbaby. One-year-old Lucas Warren of Georgia was chosen from more than 140,000 contestants.
It's a victory for one Massachusetts mom who says kids with Down's have faced discrimination in the past. People who love Lucy Falcone already know she's got star quality, and what a relief, to know the world is finally catching up.
"A Gerber baby? Everyone wants to be the Gerber baby!" said Lauren Beckham Falcone, Lucy's mom.
Little Lucas's iconic achievement means something for everyone who lives and shines with Down syndrome.
"When (Lucy) was born, one of the things that I noticed right after she was born is how I didn't see anybody with Down syndrome anywhere," Lauren said. "And I went looking. I'd go to the mall I'd be like where is everybody? I felt like I was alone in this."
In fact, when Lucy was a toddler, her family took their picture-perfect girl to a much different casting call for modeling here in Boston.
"They wouldn't even consider her," Lauren said. "They just said there's no market for kids with special needs in the Boston area. My mother, she just told me this tonight actually, left and cried."
Lucky for Lucy and for all of us, times are changing.
"As a parent you fight for inclusion every day. You want them in the schools; you want them in the community. To see this it's like we're in the trenches, but we're doing the work. And this is what's happening," Lauren said. "We're all Lucas's parents. I think that's really true."
