Down Syndrome Awareness Month Day 2: My thoughts on A&E's Born This Way

Someone recently asked me how I feel about the portrayal of Down syndrome on tv shows, specifically reality shows. Born This Way on A&E is the main show I am familiar with, though I know both Glee and American Horror Story have included characters with DS in their storylines. 

I personally love that there is show like Born This Way currently on television. It is breaking down barriers and spreading awareness with each new episode. Obviously other people agree that it is worthwhile television since it recently won the Emmy for Best Unstructured Reality Show!

Jackson was over a year old at the time of the show's premiere, but many emotions from our birth diagnosis were still pretty raw. I'm not going to say the show was always easy to watch at first. When the parents on the show spoke about their experiences, both positive and negative, much of what they said hit home, and lots of tears flowed. I know other parents with children with DS "get it," but we aren't sure others outside of our "club" understand. To see these thoughts and feelings so many of us have put out there publicly for the world to see? That was quite a powerful moment for me.  

I enjoy how Born This Way shows how the participants struggle with every day issues- friendships, romantic relationships, independence, jobs, etc., and just like any other reality tv show, there's plenty of drama! It truly epitomizes the message of people with DS being more alike than different.

The show did receive some flack within the DS community at first because there were complaints that they only included the "highest functioning" individuals with DS. However, at a recent retreat I attended, Sandra McElwee, Sean's mom on the show, spoke to this criticism. She said that the individuals on the show are not the "highest functioning" or "the cream of the crop"; they are individuals who benefited from inclusive education where they learned socially-appropriate and age-appropriate behavior and skills. I will write more about inclusion on another day, but it is not all about having my child learn the same curriculum as other children!  

Another point Sandra made was that information about DS has historically focused on what individuals cannot do, but Born This Way does an incredible job of flipping the script and showing what they CAN do. As a popular tag line from the show says, "don't limit us."

Just as the Changing the Face of Beauty campaign is truly making a difference in the kinds of models we see included in advertising, I hope we continue to see more shows with differently-abled characters included in their plots and differently-abled actors hired to portray them. The world is such a diverse place, and the entertainment industry is finally starting to show all levels of diversity.

**While the second season of Born This Way just wrapped up, you can catch up on all the episodes here: http://www.aetv.com/shows/born-this-way**