Step aside, Giselle Bundchen. The world of fashion and the stigma of disability are rapidly changing in pop culture. At this year’s Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week, a woman with Down Syndrome is strutting the runway for the first time in history. Thirty-year-old Jamie Brewer, who is also known for her role in FX’s American Horror Story and for serving as the youngest president of an Arc chapter, will be modeling a custom-designed Carrie Hammer dress and will be joined on the runway by several influential women in Hammer’s Role Models, Not Runway Models show. This statement being made in the fashion world, and therefore popular culture, means a great deal for the lives and welfare of those who have intellectual disabilities.
“We are called to reach out to those who find themselves in the existential peripheries of our societies and to show particular solidarity with the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters: the poor, the disabled, the unborn and the sick, migrants and refugees, the elderly and the young who lack employment”, said Pope Francis on the feast of Saint Francis in 2013. Fashion Week, which is more commonly noted for its stick-thin models and luxurious couture, is showing solidarity with those with Down Syndrome and other disabilities by featuring Jamie Brewer. Catholics are very aware of the fact that every person has inherit dignity from conception to natural death, regardless of their IQ. What many people, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, do not realize is that many people with intellectual disabilities are capable of much more than they are given the opportunity demonstrate. Pope Francis met with several children with disabilities via video chat last week and said, ”What I want to tell you is to not hide the treasure that each one of you has.”
However, these individuals are often not seen as having treasure. The 2012 Survey of Abortion Studies estimates that 61 to 93 percent of prenatal Down Syndrome diagnoses in America are aborted. One reason for many of these abortions is a lack of information provided to parents who receive a prenatal Down Syndrome diagnosis. Even though Down Syndrome is one of the most common genetic conditions in the United States, with an estimate of 400,000 Americans who possess the syndrome, few people have interacted with these individuals and have very misconstrued notions about what Down Syndrome is.
A 2009 ABC News story followed one woman who received a prenatal diagnosis and was promptly put in touch with the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress’ First Call program. Through this program, she met a little girl with Down Syndrome, and was shocked to see how similar she was to other children. “She was amazing. I was thinking she would be sitting in a chair unresponsive and drooling,” the woman said.
These notions are rapidly changing, not only because of advocacy programs such as First Call, but also due largely in part to pop culture’s increasing exposure of these exceptional individuals. The Fox Television Network show Glee, that began airing in 2009, features a cheerleader named Becky Jackson who has Down Syndrome and is a very prominent character in the show. Jackson is played by 24-year-old Lauren Potter who, like Brewer, is an activist and public figure. Also in an attempt to end the stigma, Target stores released a toy ad during the 2014 holiday season featuring 2-year-old Izzy Bradley who also has Down Syndrome. Even YouTube has its own sensation, with Canadian teenager, 13-year-old Madison Tevlin, whose singing channel has millions of views.
Will these witnesses to the beauty and inherent dignity of those with Down Syndrome decrease the number of abortions for a prenatal Down Syndrome diagnosis by ending the stigma? One can certainly hope. This week, Ohio’s state Legislature announced a proposed bill that would ban abortion after a Down Syndrome Diagnosis. This would make Ohio the second state (after North Dakota) to have a law banning abortion after diagnosis of a fetal abnormality. Several other states have introduced similar bills in the past that had promptly died. However, this is before pop culture’s efforts to normalize Down Syndrome. Will it have an affect? Only time will tell.
Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week, American Horror Story, Glee, YouTube, and Target are unlikely proponents of a Pro Life message but, whether they intend it or not, are displaying the inherent dignity of those born with disabilities. As recently as a generation ago, those with Down Syndrome were frequently confined to mental institutions, and not long before that, having child with Down Syndrome was viewed as an indication of the parents’ immorality. Today, those with Down Syndrome are not only more visible in every day life, but are holding prominent roles within the influential world of popular culture. As American culture continues to progress on ending the stigma of Down Syndrome and disability, may we, as Catholics, continue to pray that those with Down Syndrome be respected in every phase of life, from conception to natural death.