Different

Follow me through this short thought experiment.

Level 1: the random event - Suppose that an individual is born with a slight genetic mutation or variant that changes one of the so-called "normal" abilities: hearing, sight, walking, digestion, thinking, take your pick. That person would be labeled, even officially, as "differently abled."

Level 2: the statistics - Now assume that there is, on average, a certain number of these individuals, say a fraction of a percentage point of the entire population (for example: 0.00003%).

Level 3: the black swan - Now imagine a catastrophe, natural or man-made: a giant asteroid, aliens, a global thermonuclear war, a virus that escaped from a lab. Your call. You can be banal and mainstream or creative and conspiracy-minded, as long as the outcome of the thought experiment stays the same: the human species is wiped out, not just from Earth but from the entire universe.

Level 4: the resurrection, or almost - Not so fast, señor! The "normal" part of the species - only that part - goes extinct. So to speak, of course, given that it made up more than 99% of the world's population. The ones who survive are precisely the carriers of the mutation/variant from Level 1. They will mate with each other, and their offspring will inherit their gene pool. That includes the mutation/variant responsible for their "difference," and for their survival. The other version of the ability, the "normal" one, will be nothing but a distant memory. Maybe an idea for a sci-fi saga.

Level 5: the myth - These new humanoids, in their own way Nietzschean "Übermensch," will be able to tell their children that they are the descendants of an ancient species of "differently abled" beings: that was our species.

Drafted from Italian with Blog Translator, then revised by me.