Ellie Simmonds is an athlete, fighter and survivor, but this tiny horrific detail she discovered about her life, will shock you.
All of Britain sees Ellie Simmonds as a source of pride, given all her shortcomings. Being a talented Paralympian swimmer, she has represented Great Britain in many Paralympian tournaments and has won the country a lot of gold medals, even setting some amazing records.
From starting her incredible swimming career at the age of 13, to where she is now, her growth is remarkable, given her immense talent. Now, with her appearing on BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing, the world has gotten a sneak peek at yet another talent of Simmonds. While the world is in awe of Simmonds, turns out that vital people from her past did not think that way, particularly medical professionals. Here’s what happened.
Ellie Simmonds’ horrific discovery
For context, Ellie Simmonds recently came out and revealed that she was adopted when she was just three months old. And in an attempt to find her original family, Ellie has documented her journey in the form of a documentary called Finding My Secret Family, which airs on ITVX. People are in awe of the documentary as it is a refreshing change from the ordinary that you see on TV.
During the course of this investigative journey, she found the information sheet that her birth mother received prior to giving birth to her, and it was nothing short of horrible. The sheet branded Ellie as ‘evil’ and ‘stupid’, during the time of her birth, and this is what happened.
Ellie’s insensitive branding on medical documents
Ellie Simmonds, who suffers from achondroplasia, has suffered enough her whole life, given the dwarfism that it brings with it. To top it off, the information sheet she found was just the heights of insensitivity. Viewers of the documentary were quite disturbed as well by the contents of this sheet, as it seems heartless.
As per Metro, this is what the sheet said:
“Children with dwarfism ‘tend to be muscular and acrobatic, which is perhaps the reason for them traditionally being involved in the circus and other forms of theatre.
Children have to deal with being stared at and laughed at by other children. Indeed, there are those with normal height who equate short stature with evil and stupidity.”
Ellie’s reaction to the document
In conversation with BBC Breakfast, Ellie recently revealed the contents of the document that was written just 28 years ago, which isn’t that long back. Drafted in the year 1994, it seems outrageous that such insensitive words were chosen by medical professionals to describe a real problem. Being absolutely stunned at what was written about her, Ellie Simmonds said the following:
“The language that was used, I’ve never had a child so I don’t know what it’s like but I’m sure parents are vulnerable. You’ve just gone through the whole birth situation, you’re emotional and you get given this letter about your child and you have visions about what they’re going to be like. I haven’t gone through that. I’ve had the most fulfilled life and that’s why I’m so passionate about this documentary.”
Ellie’s meeting with her mother
Ellie finally met her birth mother, which wasn’t shown in the documentary, and she spent about five hours explaining the documentary to her. As per Ellie, here’s how it went while meeting her birth mom for the first time:
“I was so nervous, and we were supposed to meet and I got a migraine and had to cancel, but the second time I got to meet her, but that first moment we just embraced and hugged and it was the most amazing feeling.”
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