Picked Apart

Wowza!

I am shocked at how my baby was handled just the other day. I have to leave out some of the details out of privacy for the person involved but I had to literally hold my jaw closed when I saw how Joaquin was treated the other day.

So, how do I explain this without giving away too many details? We met someone for the first time who works in the field of special needs and academia. I've been looking forward to meeting this person based on reputation. I had really high hopes and expectations. We had an opportunity to meet the other day.

This person held out their arms to hold (I thought) Joaquin when we first met. Instead of holding or hugging or talking with Joaquin, this person proceeded to inspect my child. First his feet were grabbed, looking for the sandal gap. Then his hands, literally turning both hands upside down to see if there was a simian crease. Then his shirt was lifted up to look for I don't know what. Then this person tried to get the baby to stand up on the table facing out and mentioned something about the fact that Joaquin had pretty good tone. All this time, Joaquin is trying to make eye contact with this person and arching his back to try and face this person. Joaquin is extremely curious, social and loves to look and hold people's faces but there was no opportunity for him to do this as he was being inspected. At this point, Joaquin was reaching for me so I grabbed him and this person proceeded to tell me that Joaquin had a mild strabismus but it "looked good" and that his facial features were mild. Then this person asked me if Joaquin had trouble with his cervical spine. Oh. My. Gosh. I had no idea my baby was going to be this persons next guinea pig or anatomical model. Joaquin is a baby for goodness sake. A baby....first. A baby who is darn cute....second. A baby who has Down Syndrome....third. We weren't at the doctor's office, we weren't at a clinic. We were at a youth sports event with other children and families that were all hanging out. It was so surreal.

After this really crazy, unusual, uncomfortable few minutes of interacting, this person then proceeded to tell me that Joaquin was a real cutie. Thanks.

I was really quite shocked by the whole interaction and a little confused and puzzled. I can understand that this person was probably just curious and wanted to see the "markers" up close and in the flesh. Maybe this person was "showing off" a bit and wanted me and those around to know just how smart this person could be. I don't know. What I do know is that my hopes and expectations were met with a big dose of disappointment. I guess not everyone is blessed with the sensitivity chip.