"Having Down syndrome is like being born normal. I am just like you and you are just like me. We are all born in different ways, that is the way I can describe it. I have a normal life"
About this Quote
Burke’s line works because it refuses the sentimental framing people expect from disability narratives. “Having Down syndrome is like being born normal” flips the burden of explanation back onto the listener: if you think Down syndrome is automatically “abnormal,” that’s your cultural training talking, not an objective truth. The provocation sits in the casualness. He’s not pleading for acceptance; he’s stating a fact about personhood and daring you to argue.
The repetition - “I am just like you and you are just like me” - is simple on purpose, the kind of plain language that cuts through the euphemisms and “inspiration” talk that often surrounds Down syndrome. Burke isn’t asking to be treated as special; he’s asking to be treated as ordinary. That’s a higher bar than it sounds, because modern society loves to either infantilize disabled people or cast them as heroic exceptions. Both are forms of separation.
Context matters: Burke became widely known through Life Goes On, one of the first mainstream U.S. TV shows to center a character with Down syndrome played by an actor with Down syndrome. In that media ecosystem, his insistence on “a normal life” is strategic. It’s not denying difference; it’s rejecting the idea that difference equals tragedy or spectacle. “We are all born in different ways” is a quiet demand for a broader definition of normal - one that makes room without requiring permission.
The repetition - “I am just like you and you are just like me” - is simple on purpose, the kind of plain language that cuts through the euphemisms and “inspiration” talk that often surrounds Down syndrome. Burke isn’t asking to be treated as special; he’s asking to be treated as ordinary. That’s a higher bar than it sounds, because modern society loves to either infantilize disabled people or cast them as heroic exceptions. Both are forms of separation.
Context matters: Burke became widely known through Life Goes On, one of the first mainstream U.S. TV shows to center a character with Down syndrome played by an actor with Down syndrome. In that media ecosystem, his insistence on “a normal life” is strategic. It’s not denying difference; it’s rejecting the idea that difference equals tragedy or spectacle. “We are all born in different ways” is a quiet demand for a broader definition of normal - one that makes room without requiring permission.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|
More Quotes by Chris
Add to List
