About Uuganaa

Uuganaa, two months old in rural Mongolia, wearing a handmade hat and a deel by her mother.

Uuganaa Ramsay was born in Mongolia and grew up in a yurt, living a nomadic life eating marmot meat and distilling vodka from yoghurt. After winning a place on a teacher-training course she came to the UK, and now lives in Scotland. Uuganaa won the Scottish Asian Women’s Award For Achievement Against All Odds presented by Nicola Sturgeon,  First Minister of Scotland. This award recognises the achievements of a Scottish Asian woman in the face of adversity and challenging circumstances – a true modern day heroine.

Mongol won the Janetta Bowie Chalice Non-Fiction Book Award from the Scottish Association of Writers. Mongol is her first book.

You can find her on Twitter as @Guuye in English, @GuuyeMongol in Mongolian or contact here.

TALKS AND APPEARANCES (please see Events page)

Radio and Podcast 

Anti-Racist Educator

UNITED NATIONS – WORLD DOWN SYNDROME CONFERENCE – UN RADIO/ WEBTV 
“Changing stereotypes against people with Down syndrome:  THE MEANING OF MONGOL”

BBC World Service News Hour – Reclaiming Mongol 
Since the 1860s, Mongolians have had to live with a racist legacy that also insults people with Down Syndrome. Now a liberal Swedish provocateur film-maker is feeling the heat, and a group of activist Mongolians around the world, are determined to reclaim the words that mean the most to their proud nation.

BBC WORLD SERVICE & Radio 4 The Meaning of Mongol documentary presented by Uuganaa
Uuganaa Ramsay questions how her ethnicity became the official term for Down’s Syndrome, then a slang word for stupid, and reconnects with its true meaning in Mongolia.

BBC Radio Scotland – Good Morning Scotland 
How easy is it to change the meaning of a word?

TEDxYOUTH TALK 

Radio Gorgeous – Author Uuganaa Ramsay: Mongol, A mother’s memoir
Author of the Week: Uuganaa Ramsay

TV interviews and videos 

UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK – Changing stereotypes against people with Down’s syndrome

Star TV Mongolia – Mongols around the globe

Star Television, Mongolia – Talk With Me

Mongol TVHD, Mongolia – Orgil Tsag

Ayrshire Film Company – Uuganaa Ramsay – Mongol Book Launch

Khulan Jugder – Mongol Book Launch in London

Articles and interviews 

STV – Slur word ‘mongol’ to be removed from Oxford dictionary

Scotsman – Let’s commit to ending the historical misuse of the term ‘Mongol’

STV News – Why we need to end the historical misuse of the word ‘Mongol’

Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland 

BBC News Ouch blog – The Meaning of Mongol 

STUFF.NZ – When the two meanings of the word ‘Mongol’ collide

The Independent – Why are the words ‘mongol’, ‘mongoloid’ and ‘mongy’ still bandied about as insults?

The Sunday Mail – Tragic tot’s mum insists son was Mongol by way of ancestry.. not for having Downs Syndrome as she launches campaign to change attitudes

The Herald – I realised what it was like to be a Mongol

The UB Post – A Life Redefined

The Word on the Streets – Uuganaa Ramsay, author and campaigning mum

Saraband Publishing – Mongol – Q & A with Uuganaa Ramsay

The Panoramic Journeys Blog – A Traditional Tsagaan Sar 

Reading and Writing Blog – Author Spotlight: Uuganaa Ramsay

It(Mongol) has since become a bestseller…
Words in The Treehouse Blog – Interview: Uuganaa Ramsay author

“… I laughed …, I shivered reading Mongol…”
Books with Wine and Chocolate Blog – Mongol by Uuganaa Ramsay

“… she is someone to watch, both as an artist and as an activist”
Mongol by Uuganaa Ramsay – Bookslut

An evening of Mongolian meanings
theedinburghreporter.co.uk

THE BEST OF SCOTTISH BOOKS: Bad luck to cry when you say goodbye
BOOKSFROMSCOTLAND.COM

Mother of Mongols
msmagazine.com

Daily Record – Writer Uuganaa Ramsay pays moving tribute to her lost son as she urges our readers to share their stories

International platforms

IN SPANISH:

Uuganaa Ramsay fue criada en Mongolia, pero ahora vive en Escocia. Recientemente ha estado explorando por qué su etnia está vinculada con el síndrome de Down, que además es la condición genética de su hijo.
BBC MUNDO Por qué mongol se usa despectivamente como sinónimo de síndrome de Down

W RADIO COLOMBIA

Mongoles y el Síndrome de Down, la ignorancia colectiva en el mal uso de un término

“No me gusta esa palabra”, dice una mujer sentada frente a mí en el tren, que señala el título del libro que tengo en la mano: “Palabra horrible”, dice. Es mi libro de memorias, pero ella no lo sabe. Fui yo quien le dio el título de una sola palabra, “Mongol”.
LA OPINION

¿Utilizas la palabra mongol para ofender?
CENTRAL INFORMATIVA CHILE

proyectopuente.com.mx – MEXICO

Hoy Digital, Santo Domingo, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 

TODOS SOMOS UNO, MEXICO

NOTICIAS24, VENEZUELA

ECUAVISA, ECUADOR

El OJO CIUDADANO CHILE

VIVERDOWN.COM.BR BRAZIL

PERIODISMO.COM ARGENTINA 

INFONES.COM ARGENTINA

IN MONGOLIAN:

PERMANENT MISSION OF MONGOLIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS

MEDIUM.COM

NEWS.MN

MONGOLNEWS.MN 

MONGOLIAN NATIONAL BROADCASTER

24TSAG.MN

TSAGTUR.MN

AND OTHERS…

IN THAI:

MONGOL MEMOIR IS OUT IN THAI มองโกล 

IN RUSSIAN:

ASIARUSSIA.RU