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Another major project was,“ Weiner Dog,” a social satire film that premiered at Sundance in which Connor portrayed a young married man living in the community.
More recently Connor was the host for a tongue-in-cheek series of videos on“ Disability Etiquette— How to be a good __ for a person with disabilities,” produced by Phamaly Theatre Company in Denver.
With all of these accolades and awards, Connor is recognized as a viable actor in Hollywood. And one award may just stand out above all the rest – The Emmy! Connor says receiving a regional Emmy was not on his bucket list, but he was happy to have earned one, joining his friend and colleague, Hanna Atkinson, in becoming the first known people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to win a regional Emmy award! This opportunity came from a joint initiative between Special Olympics Colorado and Denver’ s ABC news affiliate, KMGH / The Denver Channel /
Denver ABC7 where he reported just about weekly on the people and programs of Special Olympics Colorado( SOCO). It was a very popular show and grew to cover other events and organizations besides Special Olympics.“ We produced about 32 episodes and won the Heartland Emmy for a yearin-review compilation special that covered some the of the project’ s most impactful stories.” You can see these episodes on Connor’ s YouTube channel.
So, what is Connor working on these days? Well, COVID has impacted everyone but it also opened new opportunities such as qualifying for the US Down Syndrome Swimming national team where Connor hopes to earn a spot on the travel team for international competition. A number of events were canceled, so now Connor is working toward qualifying with the US Down Syndrome Swimming national team for the Down Syndrome International Swimming Organization( DSISO) world championships in Portugal in 2022. The team members across the country meet weekly on Zoom to share exercise tips and to keep in touch.
In the meantime, Connor hopes to find a flexible restaurant job once it is safer post-Covid. He is very interested to attend culinary school and continue studying acting. And, once the weather is warmer, you will find Connor riding his bike and doing physical therapy using telehealth technology. He’ s currently participating in a remote exercise research project through the University of Nevada Las Vegas’( UNLV) Physical Therapy Department. The program will help improve opportunities for adults with Down syndrome to stay active and healthy by participating in intensive workouts three times a week while being monitored for heart rates, respiration, etc. He also has an essay being published this year in the academic book,“ At the Intersection of Disability and Drama: A Critical Anthology of New Plays.” His essay is,“ A Performer’ s Monologue” and he will be staging and filming a live performance of the essay with the goal of submitting it to film festivals.
Connor and his father strongly believe that actors with disabilities should be cast in roles that call for a person with a disability, not cast by people who only portray people with disabilities. And they also feel that people with disabilities should be cast into roles where“ disability” is irrelevant to the story – so, disability is normalized and not“ the story.” Both Connor