Three-year-old boy from Twickenham, Ziggy Poulton, is set to appear in Times Square billboards on Saturday, 7 September as part of the annual National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) Times Square Video presentation.

An image of Ziggy will feature in a one-hour video showcasing over 500 photographs of children, teens, and adults with Down syndrome from all 50 US states and 14 countries around the world. 

Ziggy's family are "proud of him" with his mum, Susie Baxter, admitting it is "special" that he was chosen to be part of the initiative.

"It was pretty special just to be selected," Susie tells Twickenham Nub News. "And for his face to be flying the flag for the UK, we feel really proud of him from that side."

The mum continues: "We represent a very strong community of families with children with Down syndrome through UK based charities that we are involved with so it's really nice and everyone's so excited for him.

"His older sister Dorothy (eight-years-old) is very proud of him. She's very supportive of him and particularly when our (the parent's) attention is drawn elsewhere."

An image of Ziggy, like this one, was selected from nearly 3,000 entries to the National Down Syndrome Society (credit: Christopher Giles).

A photo of Ziggy playing on his much-loved purple guitar in the footsteps of Anthony Wiggle from The Wiggles, was selected from thousands of entries to the NDSS, in a call for photo submissions.

Day to day, Susie shares Ziggy's life through his Instagram account @zigstar21 to help raise awareness around Down syndrome and break down some of the misconceptions around the condition.

Susie says: "The biggest thing we are trying to encourage with people is to see the individual first not his condition.

"The same way as anything else, you don't see if someone's unwell or has a medical condition first. You would ideally see that person first and not their condition or disability." 

Ziggy's family is 'excited' for him to feature on Times Square billboards in New York, USA (credit: Giles Christopher).

Although the presentation will be live streamed on the NDSS Facebook page from 1:30pm to 2:30pm GMT on 7 September, Ziggy and his family will not be in attendance in Times Square to witness his "starring moment" in person, due to the large costs associated with flying out and staying the US.

"Obviously it would've been amazing to have gone as a family to New York to see Ziggy live in Times Square, but it wasn't meant to be. 

"We don't have a crowdfunding page, but if any airlines have any spare seats they'd like to offer, we'll have our suitcases packed in an instant!" Susie jokes. 

To find out more about Ziggy click here and to learn more about Down Syndrome visit the Down's Syndrome Association website here.

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