Woman with Down’s Syndrome inspires thousands on national TV

Melanie, who has Down Syndrome, received 4 days worth of training

from France 2’s weather team before she fulfilled a lifelong wish of presenting the weather on French national television, after being flooded with offers from other national TV channels including BFMTV.

Melanie was motivated to become a weather presenter to help remove negative preconceptions many people still hold towards people with Down Syndrome

Speaking to the French newspaper, Le Parisien, Melanie said: ‘It’s work! But it’s OK. My dream was to show people the weather. And this can open doors to other people with disabilities.’

‘I’m different, but I’d like to show everyone that I can do a lot of things.’

All of this was made possible thanks to a campaign aptly dubbed, ‘Melanie peut le faire’ (or, ‘Melanie can do it’ in English)  was created by the French disability charity, Unapei.

Writer: Holly Royce for Metro.co.uk