explainign disabilities to children? can anyone help me please?

[misdee]

ok, i can explain CP, i can explain dwarfism, autism, blindness, deafnss etc. but today was a new one on me.

we were in morrisons and joined the queue. i only had dd2 with me, as had been hunting for a pharmacy as she was having an allergic reaction to apples, and needed some antihistimines, but found some piriteze in the shop.
in front of us was a man, who i thought at first had dwarfism, but then noticed that he didnt have arms, his hands were attached at the shoulder point like Alison Lapper (is that the right person i am thinking of?). DD2 pipes out very loudly 'EH WHATS HAPPENED!' as she is very forthright and loyud and points out everything she is 5 years old. I did just say 'oh lauren' to her, as i didnt really know what to say to explain it myself. and was reading the bottle of piriteze for dosage as well at the same time.

So how do i explain this?

I would explain (though not in his presence) that something went wrong when he was in his Mummy's tummy and that his arms didn't grow.

I think I did explain to my dd that there was a time, around when I was little, when doctors didn't realise that a medicine that Mums who were expecting babies were eating could actually get through to the baby and hurt them like this, and that quite a few babies were born with this condition at that time. I added that as soon as they realised they stopped selling the medicine. But you might find this TMI.

I also added that people with this condition usually have quite a normal life because they learn to use their hands in different ways.