TROY, Mich. – Allie Hayes, 28, has many interests, and in so many ways, she’s like any other young woman.
Born with Down Syndrome, she lives as independently as possible with her parents at their home in Troy.
“I love art, and I also really like being outdoors. That’s a big family thing,” Allie said on Friday, with her parents by her side. “I like hanging out with friends and being an aunt to these lovely babies over there.”
Allie even has her own place: a small guesthouse in the backyard that is uniquely hers.
“She is the definition of unconditional love,” Mark Hayes, Allie’s father, said. “For the last 28 years of her life, every time I walk through the door, she’s there to hug and kiss me right away, and that has never changed her entire life.”
Her mother, Dawn Hayes, has a different word to describe Allie, who has also battled heart issues as well as leukemia.
“She’s a fighter,” Dawn said. “People with Down syndrome oftentimes don’t make it through the womb, so she’s been a miracle before she even arrived.”
Unfortunately, for the Hayes family, they’ve spent the last decade fighting to protect people with disabilities, like Allie, from online predators.
“We were pretty safe, and we had things in place to check on Allie, and it still happened,” Mark said. “A predator is going to do what they are really wired to do and want to do.”
It all stems from an incident in 2017 when Allie, who was 19 at the time, was the target of an online predator.
He targeted her because of her disability and coerced her into sending him inappropriate photos.
It all happened in just 11 minutes.
“We found out immediately after when Allie was in tears and felt like she had done something wrong,” Mark said. “As a parent, it was one of the worst days of my life.”
“A typical predator will groom somebody for months or years,” Dawn added. “This was a speed version of that, and she just wasn’t equipped with the skills for what was coming at her so quickly.”
“Although this predator didn’t come through our front door, he still invaded our home,” Dawn said. “It just rattles you.”
To make matters worse, when they went to Troy police, they realized that what happened was technically not illegal.
Despite having a cognitive disability, since Allie was of legal age, nothing could be done about the predator.
“Unfortunately, there were not laws on the books that were going to help us get through this legally,” Mark said. “And they really wanted to find something that they could press charges against this particular individual.”
Mark and Dawn made it their mission to change that, starting at the state level.
In 2023, with the help of researchers at Eastern Michigan University, State Rep. Sharon MacDonnell sponsored a pair of “Justice for Allie” bills, House Bills 4320 and 4387, which made it a crime to take advantage of an adult’s vulnerable status to force them to provide sexually explicit material.
The bill passed unanimously in the state legislature and was signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer on Dec. 8, 2023.
A picture of the signing hangs in Allie’s house.
“The Michigan State Legislature to their credit, understood that we need to protect people that are vulnerable and needs someone to protect them,” Congresswoman Debbie Dingell said on Friday. “We need to do that at the Federal level as well.”
Dingell is trying to make Allie’s law into Federal law. She is co-sponsoring her own bill with fellow Congresswoman Haley Stevens, D-Michigan, in the U.S. House.
“People don’t think about people with disabilities, people who have Down syndrome or who are vulnerable and may need protection,” Dingell said. “I am going to work to try to get this bill through during this Congress. I think we can get support in the House for this bill.”
The fight to protect people with disabilities, like Allie, continues. Allie has a job and is working toward getting an associate’s degree.
Even after what she’s been through, she still has an amazing attitude and has a message for others.
“There’s hope,” Allie said. “You’ll be able to feel much better in the end.”