My first response, I will admit, was “Ick.” I wondered, is this inspiration porn — or just a well-meaning gesture? I’m beginning to think the line there is a lot finer than I originally surmised.

Am I too judgey? Not judgey enough?

I thought about it for a few days. (Okay, not exclusively, but you know what I mean.) I showed the email to a couple friends. They were not impressed. At 13, Sophie likes high heels, hoop earrings and boys, one friend reminded me. Isn’t this infantilizing her? What if she had a disability she was not able to overcome — would that mean she’s not super?

I watched the video (sponsored by American Express) and Robyn Rosenberger looks like a really nice, well-meaning person. I itched to want to like what she’s doing. But I couldn’t make up my mind.

 

So I decided to do what I should have done in the first place: One night after dinner, I asked Sophie.

 

“Hey Sophie, there’s this woman who wrote to me and she says you are a superhero because you have Down syndrome and she wants to send you a cape. Do you want it?”

 

“YES.” The answer came without hesitation.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Even though it’s about Down syndrome and you don’t always like to talk about that?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Huh. Well, okay. I didn’t have a chance to write to Rosenberger the next day and that night, I decided to ask Sophie again, just for the heck of it. This time, her older sister Annabelle was there. I gave her the back story.

 

“Hey Sophie, you want that cape we were talking about last night?”

 

“NO.”

 

“Really? Last night you wanted it.”

 

She shook her head.

 

“Is there something you’d want instead?”

 

“Mechanical pencils.”

 

“How about a tiara?” Annabelle asked. She was getting into it.

 

“Annabelle, no!” Sophie replied.

 

Annabelle pressed the issue. Why didn’t Sophie want a cape?

 

“I don’t want it because I won’t use it,” Sophie said. “I’ll use mechanical pencils at school.”

 

(Also she likes to eat the erasers, but I decided to stay quiet.)

 

And so it was decided. No cape for Sophie.

 

But still I wonder: Inspiration porn, or well-meaning gesture? Or both? Can’t it be both?