Does an allergy become your identity?

We had parents evening for our 8 year old last night – all was good, well really all couldn’t be much better – both my daughters constantly astound me with their abilities. But one thing did strike me….. In PSHE they had done an exercise about their personal characteristics,  similarities (and differences to be fair) to others. Out of her list of descriptive features about herself “I’m allergic to milk” was number one, above being blonde and having blue eyes etc.. It just made me sad to think that she may view her allergies as a more defining feature than anything else, that being allergic to milk makes her different and also changes how others view her. So today, I’m more determined than even to make sure her allergies will not make her different, that she can have everything the others can, just with a few tweaks and lots of experimentation.