When Charlotte Woodward was born, she had a genetic condition called Down syndrome. Doctors told her parents that she’d most likely never learn to read or write. All she could expect as an adult, they said, was a job in a sheltered workshop making less than minimum wage.
“My mom knew that wasn’t right, so she didn’t take those words to heart,” Woodward, now 33, says. “She instilled in me a love of education, and I started learning to read when I was three and a half years old.”
Woodward has a degree in sociology from George Mason University in Virginia. Her studies concentrated in inequality and social change. In the past decade, she’s written several articles that have appeared in medical journals and has contributed to a chapter