Strictly’s Ellie Simmonds leaves fans in tears with “heartbreaking” adoption discovery
Strictly Come Dancing star and Paralympian Ellie Simmonds has left fans emotional after a "heartbreaking" discovery in her new documentary.
Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family aired last night (July 6) on ITV, and explored the relationship between disability and adoption, as the star searched for her birth mother.
While she always knew she was adopted, the documentary featured an emotional scene in which she read out an information sheet given to her birth mother that included some shocking language.
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In it, the sheet said that people 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," it added.
Responding, Ellie said: "Oh wow, blinking Nora, evil and stupid? To write it on this… literally that we’re stupid and we’re evil? Can you imagine reading that and thinking 'that’s my child'?"
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She added: "In a way I understand. When you don’t know anything about the disabilities and you get this… gosh, you’re scared, aren’t you?".
Ellie's birth mother ended up giving her up after just two weeks, though the documentary saw the star finally meet her, the Paralympian saying it was "amazing" and "she thinks about me everyday and she always sees me as a daughter".
Viewers watching the film shared their emotional reaction to Ellie's discovery, one tweeting: "Watching #elliesimmonds documentary & it is so heartbreaking. Also, the fact she was born in 1994 & the medical sheet her birth parents got about people with dwarfism. Like they are 'stupid' and 'evil' & would be in the circus. Truly disgusting."
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"What a courageous young woman," another added. "As someone that was bullied for being disabled and had someone say I should've been aborted, it's an emotional topic to approach. The archaic nature of the language used to describe dwarfism is shocking and downright cruel."
A third wrote: "What an emotional & incredible story #elliesimmonds documentary was! Heartbreaking how long disabled children can be waiting for adoption as well as how negative the language around disability was even in the mid 90s when I was born too, but so lovely to see a happy ending."
Meanwhile, a fourth said: "I just want to give #elliesimmonds a big hug. What a programme and I’m super pleased things worked out well in the end. Just how on Earth can you call a child stupid & evil because of their disability?! It was only the 90s but it sounded like the Victorian era, horrendous!"
Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family airs on ITV1.
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