Are People with Down syndrome Often Mistaken for Midgets?
posted Friday March 6th, 2009
The talk about Down sydrome in the house — overt talk, anyway — has died down, with the science fair projects completed (two First Place ribbons, thank you very much) and put away.
But I keep thinking about something Annabelle mentioned casually, when we were talking about Sophie, in the course of her research.
“A lot of people think Sophie’s a midget,” she said, in that matter-of-fact way only a second grader can achieve — and mean.
“Does that bother you?” I asked. (That’s all I could think of to ask — that was appropriate, anyway.)
“No, I just tell them she’s not,” Annabelle replied.
It’s an innocent question, and not a dumb one, considering that Sophie stands literally half as tall as many of her kindergarten classmates.
Still.
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A friend of ours, our accountant, who happens to be a dwarf/little person ( a PC word for midget) tells us he is very often mistaken for having DS! (And I can tell you, he doesn’t have ANY even sort of traits that could possibly be attributed to DS…not a one! He also doesn’t look like Kate Hudson.)
Go figure! People are kinda stupid donchaknow?
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Well, maybe it’s an innocent question. On the other hand, why is anyone’s business either way? Sort of like I ask myself why does someone’s sexual orientation matter? unless you’re trying to date them or fix them up.
Asking whether someone is a little person is, to me, another way of asking, “Why is she different? What’s wrong with her?” but then, I find people’s allegedly innocent questions annoying a lot, so maybe that’s just me.
We often get that Addison is a “baby” and he’s three and one-half!