When the filmmaker Jonatas Rubert was a child, his parents explained to him that his younger brother, Tiago, had Down syndrome. Rubert didn’t really know what that meant, nor did he care. He was just excited to have a brother. But as time passed, Rubert began to notice the way people regarded Tiago “with something between sympathy and scorn.” That never made sense to Rubert, and it still doesn’t. In the Opinion Video above, Rubert poses a question to the world: With Down syndrome as common as it is, why do people see his brother as anything other than normal?

Jonatas Rubert (@jonatasrubert) is a documentary filmmaker.

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