The Irish have always had a way with words. After all, this is a nation that can turn an ordinary conversation into an event, produce a poet from every second village, and somehow make even the weather sound romantic.
So when "storyteller and encourager" Julianne Stanz recently explained the the phrase Duine le Dia, my first thought was: Of course it was the Irish.
The expression is often translated as "person with God" or "one who belongs to God," and in parts of Ireland it has traditionally been used to refer to people with special needs, including those with Down syndrome. It has to be one of the loveliest descriptions I have ever heard to describe someone who is neurodivergent.
Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise. The Irish are wonderful with words. They can use them to tell stories, settle scores, bring meaning to the mundane, and occasionally avoid answering a direct question altogether. Yet every now and then they stumble across a phrase that captures something important so perfectly that you wonder why nobody else thought of it first.
The phrase Duine le Dia doesn't change the person being described. What it changes is the place from which we begin. Instead of starting with a diagnosis, it starts with dignity. Instead of focusing first on limitations, it quietly reminds us that this is a person who belongs to God.
That is the curious power of language. It does not merely describe reality; it quietly influences how we interpret it.
The Irish expression seems to understand this instinctively. Rather than beginning with what a person may struggle to do, it begins with who that person is.
That struck me particularly because people with Down syndrome are often discussed in terms of what they need, what support they require, or what challenges they face. Those conversations matter, of course, but they can sometimes leave the impression that the person himself or herself has slipped out of the picture.
Spend five minutes with many people who have Down syndrome and that illusion disappears remarkably quickly.
What emerges instead is usually a very distinct personality. There is often humour, stubbornness, mischief, affection, strong opinions, questionable fashion choices, excellent fashion choices, an impressive ability to spot hypocrisy, and occasionally a determination that would make a military commander nervous. In other words, a human being.
Which brings us back to the Irish.
Because while many cultures reached for labels, they somehow reached for poetry. Faced with a person, they chose a phrase that gently reminds us of dignity, belonging, and worth before anything else.
I suspect that is why Duine le Dia lingers in the mind long after you first hear it. It does not ignore reality, nor does it pretend that life is without challenges. It simply refuses to make a diagnosis the most important thing about someone. And in a world that loves labels often more than it should, that feels like a rather useful thing to remember.
Besides, any nation capable of describing people as belonging to God instead of reducing them to a category deserves some credit for keeping poetry alive.
