I just read this article about Down's syndrome that leads with an anecdote about The Adoration of the Christ Child being an early possible depiction of Down's Syndrome (and extrapolating that this indicated the perceived angelicness of these individuals).

This seemed like the kind of tenuous claim a columnist might make without much actual legitimacy. I did some googling and found one article on the subject, but I was curious if this claim is that of a single crack pot professor or if this is more widely endorsed in art history.