If you\u2019ve attended football games, you may have seen student equipment manager David Saville on the sidelines. Saville, who has Down Syndrome, hit the national spotlight this past year when he was featured in ESPN commentator Holly Rowe\u2019s \u201cFront Rowe\u201d series as well as being a keynote speaker at the National Down Syndrome Congress Convention.
\nAt the convention, Saville was introduced by former Clemson All-America football player Dwayne Allen, who now plays for the Indiana Colts. \u201cI went into the relationship,\u201d Allen said, \u201cthinking I would learn something about Down Syndrome. I came out learning about a kid who loved video games, loved to eat hamburgers, knew every college team mascot. The only out-of-the ordinary thing I learned about him is his extraordinary ability to love. David loves everyone; it doesn\u2019t matter where you come from or what you\u2019re about.\u201d
\nSaville is enrolled in ClemsonLIFE (Learning is for Everyone), a four-year post-secondary program focused on vocational and independent- living success for young adults with disabilities. For the first two years, students live in apartments on campus with an on-site independent living assistant while taking classes on independent living, employment, personal finances, health and nutrition. During the last two years of the program, students live in off-campus apartments and are employed in the local community.
\nIn Saville\u2019s keynote, he quoted one of Coach Dabo Swinney\u2019s life lessons: \u201cThe only real disability in life is a bad attitude.\u201d Rion Holcombe, another ClemsonLIFE student, hit national news last year when a video of him receiving his acceptance letter went viral. \u201cCBS Evening News\u201d covered Holcombe\u2019s journey from acceptance to move-in.
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