Grey's Anatomy actor Caterina Scorsone pens an essay on her daughter with Down syndrome

On Grey's Anatomy, Caterina Scorsone struggles to save patients' lives as Dr. Amelia Shepherd. But in a personal essay for GoodMorningAmerica.com, the actor wrote about a different kind of fight—the fight for opportunity, visibility, and equity for her daughter Pippa, who has Down syndrome. "Pippa has Down syndrome," she wrote in the piece, which she penned in honour of Down Syndrome Awareness Month. "But Pippa isn't Down syndrome. Pippa is Pippa." Caterina added that the 3-year-old child has "rainbow-coloured eyes" and hair that's "like soft-spun caramel."

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The proud parent, who is also the mother to 8-year-old Eliza and 10-month-old Lucinda, continued saying, "She likes wearing dresses more than pants, she particularly likes dresses with moons and stars on them. She likes popcorn and Totoro and elephants. Pippa loves her big sister and her baby sister, too. She likes toast with butter, trampolining, and lip-syncing to Sia and the Sing soundtrack. Pippa likes red and does not like having her hair washed in the tub. She likes swimming and sign language and coconut water."

Caterina also admitted that “Pippa is different. She has a visual learning profile that makes it easier for her to learn from pictures and printed words than from hearing a teacher lecture, she could read simple words at 3 years old but took longer than her sister to be able to talk because of differences in her oral motor planning and muscle tone. Pippa has almond-shaped eyes and a slightly wider sandal gap between her toes. She is small for her age, but her eyes are wise. She always says what she means and doesn't suffer fools."

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And while Caterina acknowledged that Pippa was different, she also reminded the readers that "so are you and so am I. Pippa has needs that are specific to the way her body was made. I have needs that are specific to the way my body was made. We all do," she added. "For Pippa to accomplish what she chooses to accomplish, to thrive and fulfill the desires she has for herself, she needs to be supported in specific ways. So do I."

Caterina then described the therapies, visibility, and support Pippa needed both now and when she's older. "She'll need some supports to get an equal shot at life, she’ll need equity," she added. She also made it clear that there's a difference between equity and equality. "Equity is a more useful word than equality, equity embraces our differences. Equality sometimes accidentally erases them and in so doing, creates disadvantage and inequality for a great many people,” Caterina stated.

She continued, "We each need to be seen as worthy and precious because of, rather than despite our differences." She explained that this was achieved in several ways, including having "our uniqueness" seen and protected by legislation and social structures. She later added, "For us to organize ourselves in a way that allows for equality in the fullness of our difference, we need to remember that every individual human being is the point. Each unique person is the whole story, interconnected fractals of a wholeness called 'love.' No one is less or more useful on the way toward something else. Human beings seen as a means is exploitation. Human beings seen as an end is dignity. It's love."

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Conclusively, she wrote that everyone had the same basic needs: love, safety, dignity, and connection. "But human beings are different, we are specific, and we need to be loved and supported individually, we are the unique and distinct notes of an infinite musical composition. We are a very beautiful rainbow colour refracted through the mysterious prism of life. We are equal, different, and miraculous, like Pippa's eyes."