Abstract

VERAS, Viviane. “Ser diferente é normal”?. ETD [online]. 2007, vol.08, suppl., pp.140-153. ISSN 1676-2592.

The question in the title of this paper refers to the slogan "ser diferente é normal" ("It´s normal to be different"), which is part of a campaign created for a NGO that supports people with Down syndrome. The objective of the campaign is to promote the social inclusion of individuals with Down syndrome, and the first step was to propose the inclusion of a group of "differents" in the socalled normal group. The film launching the campaign shows the different identified as normal by means of examples: a black man exhibiting blackpower haircut, a skin-head, a tattooed body, an over-athletic female body, a hippie family and a girl with Down syndrome. The vision of the dancing teenager lessens the imaginary effect that surpasses the syndrome, since only her body and her little oriental eyes stand out and no cognitive issues are raised. I propose here to reflect on the paradoxical nature of the example as it is constructed in this film: if by definition, an example actually shows its belonging to a class, we may conclude that it is exactly for being exemplary that it is outsite this class, at the very moment it exhibits and defines it.

Keywords : Different; Normal; Body; Down Syndrome; Inclusion.

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