Petition letter on behalf of,
GQ: Issue Apology for Down Syndrome Discrimination campaign, sent to GQ ten days after their disaparaging Down syndrome remark, with personal comments and six hundred signatures:
July 25, 2011
Dear GQ Magazine Editors & Staff,
This letter is in regards to discriminatory content, published about people with Down syndrome, by your magazine on July 15, 2011. The fashion article, 40 Worst-Dressed Cities in America by John B. Thompson states, "Due to so much local inbreeding, Boston suffers from a kind of Style Down Syndrome, where a little extra ends up ruining everything". This reference is offensive and demeaning. Circulating a prejudicial view, and targeting people with Down syndrome, has detrimentally impacted many people and caused a major social injustice.
Insinuating that Down syndrome is caused by inbreeding, and suggesting that extra genetic material ruins a person, is false. Not only are the words you published untrue, but they are just as harmful as if you would’ve published a sexist, racial, religious, ethnic, ageist, or social orientation slur. Ableism is real, and rooted by words like Thompson's. Even if his comment wasn’t meant that way, that is what it means, and therefore has had a tremendous effect on thousands of people.
The majority of people in our society don't have a personal connection with someone who has a disability. This causes most people not to hold a high value for people with disabilities in their own life. Until disability has value to a person, they usually don’t care enough to understand how damaging inbred societal messages about people with disabilities are. Our society’s disability related skewed perceptions, uninformed words, and dehumanizing actions must stop to end oppression faced by people with Down syndrome and other disabilities. Spending quality time with someone, who also happens to have Down syndrome, will allow the opportunity to get to know a person well enough to see them as an individual. If you never have a relationship with someone with Down syndrome you will only have an outdated, inaccurate judgment of a negatively viewed diagnosis.
Discriminatory assumptions of any kind resonate and causes myths, disapproving attitudes, and uninformed misconceptions. This type of prejudice has been conquered by other minority groups, and will be for people with disabilities someday too. Advocates across the country are fighting against derogatory remarks like the one published by your magazine, through: respectful language laws; promoting people first perspectives; educational opportunities; and many other advocacy efforts. Our culture needs to understand more about what a Down syndrome diagnosis means in order to be accepting of the 400,000 people in our nation with this naturally occurring genetic anomaly.
In fact, ninety percent of women who find out they are pregnant with a baby with Down syndrome decide not to continue the pregnancy because of what they think they know based on societal assumptions like the one you published. That statistic alone is proof enough of how misinformed and fearful our society is about Down syndrome. Life changing decisions are being made based on prejudice without truly being informed. What people don't get the chance to find out, is that Down syndrome is not: a disease, disappointment, or a definition of a person. Down syndrome is: a confidential diagnosis, unique trait, and a part of a person with unlimited potential.
Today, Down syndrome means rights and respect, and there has never been a better time then now to be someone with Down syndrome. Our technological possibilities, medical advances, inclusive educational practices, parent and professional advocacy efforts, and numerous other options have empowered individuals with Down syndrome to lead successful lives. Truthfully, “Style Down Syndrome” is living life to the fullest. One can only hope to achieve as many goals and gain as much independence as individuals with Down syndrome do.
Over six hundred people have signed the petition, GQ: Issue Apology for Down Syndrome Discrimination, asking you to apologize for publishing diversity intolerance about people with Down syndrome. Over 3,200 interested people have viewed the petition to find out why you need to make amends and what the controversy is all about. This campaign, the numerous articles published about yours, the televised Fox News interview, and all of the emails sent to your editor are more then enough reason to owe the public an apology. Please respond to America by issuing a statement.
You still have a chance to turn this unfortunate situation around and help our society presume the best about people with Down syndrome. Today marks tens days since you published a Down syndrome slur, and marks the tenth day your company has not apologized for publishing it. An official acknowledgment in response to this serious diversity intolerance matter will create positive publicity for your company, and Down syndrome awareness as well. Altering your article’s original content, and sending form emails to those people who wrote to your editor, isn’t enough and doesn’t reach everyone affected.
Attached are signatures and personal comments of everyone to date, who needs to be reached out to about this matter. If you would like reliable and current information and resources about Down syndrome, please visit: www.ndss.org . If you would like to contact me personally with questions, or to have a phone conversation with me, please email: jlesleyburch@yahoo.com with your contact details. We are all waiting to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Jamie Lesley Burch
GQ: Issue Apology for Down Syndrome Discrimination Campaign
