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I worked in a residential community consisting of many young people with various disabilities. Most of these had Down’s syndrome. From the OP... > Individuals

by Daub 6y ago

I worked in a residential community consisting of many young people with various disabilities. Most of these had Down’s syndrome. From the OP... > Individuals with Down syndrome generally have outstanding social skills... Dam right! They were amongst the most compassionate, loving and witty people I have ever met. I remain humbled at their extraordinary humanity. Other things the articles mentions are also true. Certainly Low muscle tone. This also signifies incredible flexibility. ...Seeing a 40 year old man with this condition bend over and place both his palms on the floor without bending his knees. Try it now! I dare you! But ultimately these folk will always need institutional or family based care, or close oversight, for the rest of their lives. What bugs me is ‘stories of success’, like the young girl with downs who is a model. This does no one any favor, instead placing unreal expectations on them. This residential community was very closed, almost like a religious retreat, or a very small village. In many ways it was the perfect place for such people. They held a valuable place in our lives, and were ‘useful’ in the way we all strive to be. In a more modern setting, their lives are more difficult.

yhoneycomb 6y ago
Just curious could you give examples of them being witty?
- millisecond 6y ago
  Different situation but I have a 6yo with downs and this rings true to me. He’s always trying to crack a joke. He’ll say loudly “good night Uschi!” (his grandmother’s nickname) to my wife with a grin on his face like he made the funniest joke. Not Seinfeld over here but we laugh pretty hard.
  - notretarded 6y ago
    Seinfeld wasn't funny anyway
- Daub 6y ago
  Always wanting to subvert serious situation. For example... me being in a bad mood having to get up at 5.00am to milk the cows, and this Downs boy looking up at me with a crazy big-ass grin that would completely wipe all sour thoughts from my mind. They play with language in a very disarming manner. Not highbrow, but will find compelling nicknames for their loved ones and deliver them in a way that is difficult not to be drawn in by.
  - farrelle25 6y ago
    That's so true about playing with language... We had a resident with Downs who needed assistance every day ... But he got tired always asking "You help me?"... and started saying "I help you!" (and laughed)... We knew what he meant & came over ... he got a kick out of swapping his pronouns :)
  - slothtrop 6y ago
    That's all very nice, but it isn't wit.
    - ben_w 6y ago
      Comedy is extremely situational — first scene in first episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer made somebody dying funny — so if OP says someone was witty when they did something, they almost certainly were.
      - scpedicini 6y ago
        I think wit is in the eye of the beholder as well. For the record, wit is typically defined as a form of verbal humor, so it's not really the same thing as situational comedy. And this might also be a case of one's expectations. If you spent your entire week teaching preschool, and then on the weekend met up with some adults for drinks later, you might come out of that evening with the thought that those were some of the most urbane sophisticated people you'd ever met. Yeah... because you spend the vast majority of your day preventing toddlers from sticking crayons up their noses. It's the intellectual equivalent of the ebbinghaus illusion.
- hobbyjogger 6y ago
  My uncle sometimes puts his shoes on the wrong feet and once managed to put his jeans on backwards (buttoned but not zipped behind him). As he walked past the doorway my mom (his sister) said, "Your pants are on backwards!" Without missing a beat, he countered, "Maybe I was going the other way..." and sort of moonwalked back the way he came.
  - arkitaip 6y ago
    That's hilarious!
  - yhoneycomb 6y ago
    this is too funny haha, thanks
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
> They were amongst the most ... witty people We have to be careful about praising the disabled like this, because we risk being condescending. This is an age-old phenomenon – in Ulysses (published already a century ago), James Joyce has his protagonist muse on the fact that people are so quick to praise a blind person for his jokes not because the person is actually funny, but simply because people’s expectations towards the disabled are so low.
- fakedang 6y ago
  I think he was talking about Down Syndrome folks, and I can tell you that DS folks are the most friendliest folks in the crowd. I'll even go ahead and say that they are more charismatic than most software engineers. My younger brother has Down's, yet he tends to be way more friendly with not only strangers but my relatives too, compared to myself.
- scpedicini 6y ago
  This weirdly reminded me of how Michael Bluth fails to realize his girlfriend Rita has a learning disability because of her aristocratic sounding British accent in the show Arrested Development.
- 83457 6y ago
  Is it wrong to say they look alike? There are just times where there is such commonality in a group due to genetic abnormalities and other factors that descriptions are more a fact than a stereotype.
  - BobbyJo 6y ago
    Wrong? No. But definitely pointless and insensitive. Common genetic factors causing similar phenotypes isn't a novel, or even interesting, thought.
    - 83457 6y ago
      Is it pointless and insensitive for a scientific manual to indicate that all individuals with a certain genetic disorder look incredibly similar across races and genders? My point is that there is a difference between stereotyping races/cultures/disabled and indicating highly correlated attributes in individuals with specific genetic/chromisonal abnormalities.
remlov 6y ago
I am 37, male, and can place both palms on the floor without bending my knees. I am definitely average in health and am sure this isn't unique, however, I am not discounting ligament laxity which is prevalent in individuals with Down syndrome.
- watwut 6y ago
  It is not unique, but it is definitely rare. Like, super rare.
- Daub 6y ago
  If you don’t exercise, I am impressed. Actually, I can do it to. But this is because I have Ehlers Danlos syndrom (hyper mobility). This guy I am referring to would actually adopt the pose when he was relaxing. It was as natural to him as folding his arms.
- austhrow743 6y ago
  You're aware that average in health for the mostly western audience of this website is overweight bordering on obese right? Disregarding that though, I'm legitimately shocked to learn that anyone, fat or not, could do that without a regular stretching routine.

by Daub 6y ago

yhoneycomb 6y ago

Just curious could you give examples of them being witty?

millisecond 6y ago
Different situation but I have a 6yo with downs and this rings true to me. He’s always trying to crack a joke. He’ll say loudly “good night Uschi!” (his grandmother’s nickname) to my wife with a grin on his face like he made the funniest joke. Not Seinfeld over here but we laugh pretty hard.
- notretarded 6y ago
  Seinfeld wasn't funny anyway
Daub 6y ago
Always wanting to subvert serious situation. For example... me being in a bad mood having to get up at 5.00am to milk the cows, and this Downs boy looking up at me with a crazy big-ass grin that would completely wipe all sour thoughts from my mind. They play with language in a very disarming manner. Not highbrow, but will find compelling nicknames for their loved ones and deliver them in a way that is difficult not to be drawn in by.
- farrelle25 6y ago
  That's so true about playing with language... We had a resident with Downs who needed assistance every day ... But he got tired always asking "You help me?"... and started saying "I help you!" (and laughed)... We knew what he meant & came over ... he got a kick out of swapping his pronouns :)
- slothtrop 6y ago
  That's all very nice, but it isn't wit.
  - ben_w 6y ago
    Comedy is extremely situational — first scene in first episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer made somebody dying funny — so if OP says someone was witty when they did something, they almost certainly were.
    - scpedicini 6y ago
      I think wit is in the eye of the beholder as well. For the record, wit is typically defined as a form of verbal humor, so it's not really the same thing as situational comedy. And this might also be a case of one's expectations. If you spent your entire week teaching preschool, and then on the weekend met up with some adults for drinks later, you might come out of that evening with the thought that those were some of the most urbane sophisticated people you'd ever met. Yeah... because you spend the vast majority of your day preventing toddlers from sticking crayons up their noses. It's the intellectual equivalent of the ebbinghaus illusion.
hobbyjogger 6y ago
My uncle sometimes puts his shoes on the wrong feet and once managed to put his jeans on backwards (buttoned but not zipped behind him). As he walked past the doorway my mom (his sister) said, "Your pants are on backwards!" Without missing a beat, he countered, "Maybe I was going the other way..." and sort of moonwalked back the way he came.
- arkitaip 6y ago
  That's hilarious!
- yhoneycomb 6y ago
  this is too funny haha, thanks

Mediterraneo10 6y ago

> They were amongst the most ... witty people We have to be careful about praising the disabled like this, because we risk being condescending. This is an age-old phenomenon – in Ulysses (published already a century ago), James Joyce has his protagonist muse on the fact that people are so quick to praise a blind person for his jokes not because the person is actually funny, but simply because people’s expectations towards the disabled are so low.

fakedang 6y ago
I think he was talking about Down Syndrome folks, and I can tell you that DS folks are the most friendliest folks in the crowd. I'll even go ahead and say that they are more charismatic than most software engineers. My younger brother has Down's, yet he tends to be way more friendly with not only strangers but my relatives too, compared to myself.
scpedicini 6y ago
This weirdly reminded me of how Michael Bluth fails to realize his girlfriend Rita has a learning disability because of her aristocratic sounding British accent in the show Arrested Development.
83457 6y ago
Is it wrong to say they look alike? There are just times where there is such commonality in a group due to genetic abnormalities and other factors that descriptions are more a fact than a stereotype.
- BobbyJo 6y ago
  Wrong? No. But definitely pointless and insensitive. Common genetic factors causing similar phenotypes isn't a novel, or even interesting, thought.
  - 83457 6y ago
    Is it pointless and insensitive for a scientific manual to indicate that all individuals with a certain genetic disorder look incredibly similar across races and genders? My point is that there is a difference between stereotyping races/cultures/disabled and indicating highly correlated attributes in individuals with specific genetic/chromisonal abnormalities.

remlov 6y ago

I am 37, male, and can place both palms on the floor without bending my knees. I am definitely average in health and am sure this isn't unique, however, I am not discounting ligament laxity which is prevalent in individuals with Down syndrome.

watwut 6y ago
It is not unique, but it is definitely rare. Like, super rare.
Daub 6y ago
If you don’t exercise, I am impressed. Actually, I can do it to. But this is because I have Ehlers Danlos syndrom (hyper mobility). This guy I am referring to would actually adopt the pose when he was relaxing. It was as natural to him as folding his arms.
austhrow743 6y ago
You're aware that average in health for the mostly western audience of this website is overweight bordering on obese right? Disregarding that though, I'm legitimately shocked to learn that anyone, fat or not, could do that without a regular stretching routine.