When I lived in Turkey, I remember being stunned the first time I saw someone there with Down syndrome. It struck me: it took almost two years in a city of 12+ million people to see someone with this condition. Either meiotic nondisjunction is a rare occurrence in Turkish women, or people kept them hidden away. After asking around, I sadly found that it was generally the latter case. Down syndrome and other congenital defects are often looked down on as a source of shame for the family.
Beth Bruno, an American expat whom I got to know while living over there, has put her photography skills to work by creating A Face To Reframe. It's a project in which Turkish children with disabilities were given cameras and allowed to define beauty. And as it turns out, no matter what you think someone looks like on the outside, they share the same sense of beauty, virtue, and creative artistry that even the best of us have. Check it out.
1 comment:
Very cool. Thanks for linking to the photos
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