Originally Posted by tuppencehapenny:
“The intonation of a person with Down's syndrome is likely to be a bit different from people without, so it is not reasonable to expect him to speak exactly as the other actors do. However, I do think it's patronising as has been said earlier to comment on the actor's probable IQ and suggest he won't understand the words he speaks. I'd say this is nonsense.
Personal interest is that I have a son with Down's syndrome, and he is Alex's age. He does a lot of acting in amateur productions, and he is also a Corrie expert, having watched every episode available on DVD from the very beginning. He was interested to learn that there was an actor with Down's coming into the show, though he was a bit miffed it wasn't him! His opinion now is that Alex has been a disappointment in the role, not really speaking his lines with conviction or showing emotion appropriately. By the way, in the previous sentence I am quoting his own words: he has no difficulty whatsoever understanding the words of any character in Corrie, as he has a wide vocabulary, and would feel patronised if anyone suggested otherwise.
My own feeling is that the real disappointment has been Cathy, but that's a lot to do with the writing. She seems so inconsistent, and at the moment so self-obsessed. And there is so little seeming affection between her and Roy. Poor Roy. He deserves better.”
“The intonation of a person with Down's syndrome is likely to be a bit different from people without, so it is not reasonable to expect him to speak exactly as the other actors do. However, I do think it's patronising as has been said earlier to comment on the actor's probable IQ and suggest he won't understand the words he speaks. I'd say this is nonsense.
Personal interest is that I have a son with Down's syndrome, and he is Alex's age. He does a lot of acting in amateur productions, and he is also a Corrie expert, having watched every episode available on DVD from the very beginning. He was interested to learn that there was an actor with Down's coming into the show, though he was a bit miffed it wasn't him! His opinion now is that Alex has been a disappointment in the role, not really speaking his lines with conviction or showing emotion appropriately. By the way, in the previous sentence I am quoting his own words: he has no difficulty whatsoever understanding the words of any character in Corrie, as he has a wide vocabulary, and would feel patronised if anyone suggested otherwise.
My own feeling is that the real disappointment has been Cathy, but that's a lot to do with the writing. She seems so inconsistent, and at the moment so self-obsessed. And there is so little seeming affection between her and Roy. Poor Roy. He deserves better.”
And quite right too!! Your lad speaks a lot of sense
Agree with you about Cathy, It feels so forced, I'm not keen on the character, and it's unlikely a jobbing actress like Melanie Hill would be committed to staying in CS on a long term basis anyway. They should have left Roy single, and a pillar of the community, someone people went to for advice.
