Beautiful Eyes: A Father Transformed

In 1987, Paul Austin and his wife Sally were newlyweds, excited about their future together and happily anticipating the birth of their first child. He was a medical student and she was a nurse. Everything changed the moment the doctor rushed their infant daughter from the room just after her birth, knowing instantly that something was wrong.

Sarah had almond-shaped eyes, a single crease across her palm instead of three, and low-set ears-all of which suggested that the baby had Down syndrome. Beginning on the day Sarah is born and ending when she is a young adult living in a group home, „Beautiful Eyes” is the story of a father's journey toward acceptance of a child who is different. In a voice that is unflinchingly honest and unerringly compassionate, Austin chronicles his life with his daughter: watching her learn to walk and talk and form her own opinions, making decisions about her future, and navigating cultural assumptions and prejudices-all the while confronting, with poignancy and moving candor, hi.