Hi. My name is Manon. I’m twenty-four.
People told me I have a “condition.” They say “Down syndrome,” “trisomy 21.”
I don’t feel sick. I feel fine.
Sometimes words are hard.
There’s a lot inside my head, and the words don’t always come out right.
But I understand when you talk.
When you look at me, I understand a lot too, even if you think I don’t.
With “normal” people, it’s complicated.
Sometimes they talk and I understand nothing. It all gets messy. I think, “what are they even saying?”
Or they don’t tell the truth. Or they make things difficult for no reason.
They use words that twist. Backward sentences.
Me, I know when it’s love. I know joy. I know sadness. I know anger.
Meanness—I know it very well. I feel it right away.
I am kind. I try to be happy with everyone.
But if someone is mean to me, I won’t talk to them. I leave. I don’t want to feel the hurt.
I like Justine. She makes me laugh. She’s like a sister to me.
Leo is nice. Sometimes he’s goofy, a little silly, but his heart is clean. He doesn’t hide things.
Ali is complicated. He’s a doctor. He talks a lot, and when he writes, we don’t always understand.
Once at the supermarket, he didn’t put all his items on the belt and he picked up a receipt from the floor—then he told the truth. He’s honest. There’s no bad in him. He knows it’s the end of the world. Leo doesn’t want to believe it.
Yaphet and Paul—I see their hearts without words.
I know if they are sad, or happy, or angry, without them speaking.
The three of us, we understand each other.
I like writing. I write words that are sad or happy.
I draw the way people speak.
Melody—she knows how to talk with others, but she talks even better with me.
We understand each other right away, without words.
She teaches me for Manu.
Poor Manu is in his wheelchair. He can’t move, he can’t talk like others.
But he says a lot of things, if you really listen.
People say I’m in love with Paul. That’s not true.
Paul is like a brother to me.
I speak two languages. My mom is English. My dad is French.
I went to school through ninth grade. I was held back three times.
My parents fought so I could stay in the same classes as the others.
People are sometimes mean—or they get pushed to be mean. They don’t know any other way.
Being with the others helped me talk better.
But tests stressed me a lot. You had to go very fast. I don’t like to run.
It didn’t feel fair.
And often the ones who “won” got meaner with the others.
One more thing: animals do have feelings. That’s true.
They feel many things. It hurts my heart when people hurt them.
It makes me sad, and sometimes angry.
We separate babies from their mothers. We treat them badly.
That’s not right. We have to stop.
MANON
Illustration by Otto Machina — Manon is a fictional character from the series “After The Strong” English adaptation of “Car Ils Hériteront de la Terre.”