Mongol

By Uuganaa Ramsay (UK, author, activist, director at Mongol Identity)

Mongol [mong-gohl] noun 1. a member of a pastoral people now living chiefly in Mongolia. 2. the language of the Mongols; Mongolian.

[Uuganaa Ramsay is a Mongol living in Britain. When her newborn son Billy is diagnosed with Down syndrome, she finds herself facing all the taboos associated with the term “mongol”. In this powerful memoir, Uuganaa skilfully interweaves the extraordinary story of her own childhood in Mongolia with the sadly short life of Billy, who becomes a symbol of union and disunion, cultures and complexity, stigma and superstition – and inspires Uuganaa to challenge prejudice and campaign to change attitudes. Mongol is the touching story of one woman’s transformation from outsider to fearless champion of love, respect and tolerance. It’s a moving tribute by a remarkable woman to her beloved baby son, testifying to his lasting impact on a sometimes imperfect world.]

Iwrote my memoir in memory of my son Billy and for my other children as they are growing up in Britain, which is very different from my Mongolian childhood. I felt it was important to share my story with the world because so many of us go through heartbreaks and happy times, yet very few of us share our story in an honest way. The stigma and many labels attached to diagnosis mean that instead of living our life and enjoy being who we are, we end up trying to prove our existence, battling with inequalities and misrepresentation. As you may know, the word “Mongol/mongol” has multiple associations. In addition to describing a person from Mongolia, it is also used as a derogatory term for a person with Down syndrome and, more generally, as an insult referring to someone stupid. The associations have their roots in the nineteenth century pseudo-sciences of ethnic classification and phrenology when John Langdon Down classified people with Down syndrome as “Mongolian Idiots”. His opinion was that they shared some of the facial characteristics of the “Mongoloid”, the racist classification used in the West to describe people from Mongolia, China and Japan. In the 1960s, geneticists campaigned to have the “Mongolian Idiot” (and associated variations) replaced by “Down syndrome”, reflecting a growing concern at the racism at the root of the term. By 1965, the World Health Organisation’s classification of illness dropped any links between “Mongol” and “Down syndrome”, and it was assumed that this association would fade over time. However, the associations between Mongol, Down syndrome and stupidity still persist. As recently as October 2020, Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen caused uproar when he called a rival a “mongol”. The social media response which followed showed that many had no idea why this use of the word Mongol was offensive and saw it merely as interchangeable for “idiot”. There was little recognition that using the term as an insult is both deeply racist and discriminatory. When Max Verstappen made his comments, we found a lot of people on social media defended his use of the word by saying “mongol” is in the dictionary, and it means someone who is stupid or someone who has Down syndrome. I feel many people can talk about it now. It felt like a can of worms that nobody was willing to touch as the topic reveals truths that we do not want to know to a certain extent. For example, John Langdon was a figure who was respected by many and seen as an expert in his field. Yet, we do not want to know the fact that he wrote a paper called Observations on an Ethnic Classification of Idiots comparing facial characteristics of people with Down syndrome to Mongolians. To illustrate the confusion with a single example, in the 1970s, the Mongolian Embassy in London was contacted by an organisation to provide some Mongol children’s photos because they were creating a photo exhibition displaying people with learning disabilities. My memoir is not a coursebook or an explanation of how the word “Mongol” should be used. It’s simply a human story, just like anyone’s, only I happen to be a Mongol. I was reminded to accept the culture and grow more resilience and get used to how the word “Mongol” is used in society. However, I feel we deserve to know the truth, and it is up to people if they want to hurt our babies or educate themselves and move into the twenty-first century. Reviews and comments give me the strength to go on, both in coping with my grief and speaking out on equality and inclusion.

On 3 February, Uuganaa shared the following on her Twitter feed:

So happy to share this with you all:

Mongol Identity dictionary definition campaign influences the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary to remove the outdated terms “mongol”, “mongoloid”, and “mongolism”. Even the dictionary can be out of date. To mark World Education Day on 24 January 2021, Mongol Identity launched a campaign for improved dictionary definitions of the word “Mongol” to help counter racism and discrimination against people with disabilities. We approached the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and are very pleased with the outcome. The managing editor of ELT Dictionaries and Reference Grammar at Oxford University Press said in their email: “Having reviewed the evidence for the words ‘mongol’, ‘mongoloid’, and ‘mongolism’, we have decided to remove these terms from the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. The terms are no longer widely used and therefore not helpful to current learners of English.” Dictionaries are essential reference tools, and the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary is a key learning tool used in libraries and schools around the world. Oxford University Press publishes several different types of dictionary, and they are also the sources licensed by Apple and Google, and as such are the most read online dictionaries in the world.

The managing editor of ELT Dictionaries and Reference Grammar at Oxford University Press confirmed: “We will review these definitions once again to ensure that the context and use of these words is very clear. The words will remain in our English dictionary data, clearly labelled, to help users to understand their context and use.” We are calling on other publishers of dictionaries around the world to follow suit in updating their definitions of the word “Mongol” and ending the historical, outdated, inaccurate misuse of the term “mongol”.

Twitter: @Guuye mongolmemoir.com

Uuganaa is currently working on her feature film script inspired by her memoir..