“When I have to manage large sums of money, anything over €1,000, it feels like my brain switches off. I get lost,” said Sabrina Dijoux. With a smile, the slender 39-year-old described the daily challenges she faces with simple tasks. “Just putting on makeup, which should normally take five minutes, takes me two hours,” she added. She was 25 when a doctor identified the cause behind her learning disabilities and other difficulties: FAS, or fetal alcohol syndrome, the most specific and severe disorder resulting from maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Sabrina was born prematurely at six and a half months, while her mother was in an alcohol-induced coma. When placed in her older sister’s care at age 7, she learned that her mother was seriously ill with alcoholism. Facing significant motor disorders, especially in her lower limbs, she was first diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
But it was only when she consulted a gynecologist while planning to have a child that Sabrina, who uses a wheelchair, learned that her disabilities were not solely due to her extreme prematurity. “[The doctor] told me right away: ‘You have FAS.’ She hadn’t even examined me but recognized it from certain physical features,” recalled Dijoux, who told her story in Une Fille Debout (“A Girl Standing”). “It was a relief. I finally understood some of my symptoms, which I hadn’t seen in people with cerebral palsy during rehabilitation.”
You have 79.73% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
