My parents thought it would be best if mum taught me at home.

I am really lucky, because my dad is a headteacher of a secondary school so I have been on trips abroad with the school.

To practise my handwriting, I write letters to famous people. I also write pieces for magazines, and I sometimes get published which is really cool.

I do projects and three of them have done especially well. My millennium prayer was sent to lots of people who really liked it, including the Queen, the Archbishop, the Pope, the Chief Rabbi and Jonathan Aitken. My poem was read out on BBC TV’s Fully Booked 100th birthday programme. My autobiography was published in The Big Issue.

Although there are lots of things I can’t do, mum and dad encourage me to do the things I can do well. Down’s Syndrome isn’t horrible, it’s ok.

John-Paul Gower (age 14) Penyffordd Farm Ffordd-Y-Felin, Treuddyn Mold, Flintshire