Folks with Down syndrome have a message for the world: “Assume that I can.” A world consciousness marketing campaign, launched forward of World Down Syndrome Day on Thursday, challenges unfavourable biases that individuals with Down syndrome can face.
A younger girl, performed by Canadian actress Madison Tevlin, discusses the low expectations others have for folks like her — whether or not it’s going out to bars, schooling and even relationship with a incapacity.
“Your assumption turns into actuality,” she says within the video. “However hey, in case your assumptions turn into actuality, then assume that I can.”
The video then reveals Tevlin’s character ingesting at a bar, studying Shakespeare and dwelling on her personal.
“The message actually says quite a bit,” Tevlin instructed CBS Information. “It is impactful and highly effective to so many individuals on the market on the planet.”
Italy’s CoorDown partnered with the Nationwide Down Syndrome Society within the U.S., the Canadian Down Syndrome Society and different organizations all over the world. Since its launch on March 14, the marketing campaign has lots of people speaking.
“This video is driving the dialog,” Kandi Pickard, president and CEO of NDSS, instructed CBS Information. “Bringing extra consciousness to Down syndrome, bringing extra consciousness of nonetheless these preconceived notions and stereotypes.”
She says the NDSS has seen a rise in outreach from people that wish to do extra on account of this marketing campaign. The continuing dialogue will hopefully result in a broader dialogue about how these preconceived notions maintain the incapacity neighborhood again.
“We’d like to ensure as a society that we’re respecting that individuals with disabilities have a voice and that individuals with disabilities should be heard and revered,” Pickard mentioned.
What’s World Down Syndrome Day?
World Down Syndrome Day has been noticed yearly by the United Nations since 2012. The importance behind the date March twenty first, or 3-21, is the truth that these with Down syndrome are born with three copies of Chromosome 21 as an alternative of two. It’s celebrated in 190 nations.
CoorDown’s social media accounts present folks with Down syndrome who aren’t letting society outline what it means to be dwelling with an mental incapacity: They’re CEOs, cooks, Emmy-award actors, and extra.
Mia Armstrong, a 13-year-old who’s already a extremely completed actor, mannequin and advocate, has added creator to her credentials together with her new kids’s e-book, “I Am a Masterpiece!” In it, she shares her experiences dwelling with Down syndrome and it’s her superpower.
In 2022, Sofía Jirau turned the primary girl with Down syndrome to mannequin for Victoria’s Secret.
“I really like the digicam,” Jirau instructed CBS Mornings lead nationwide correspondent David Begnaud.
Charlotte Woodward, is a graduate of George Mason College and an schooling program affiliate for the NDSS — and is advocating for a brand new legislation that forestalls discrimination primarily based on incapacity within the organ transplant course of.
NDSS
Finish the stereotypes
The message behind the now-viral marketing campaign was impressed by the 2019 speech given by Italian Down syndrome advocate Marta Sodano on the United Nations. She famous that when academics assume a scholar can not perceive, they won’t train, and the coed does not study.
UN Photograph/Eskinder Debebe
“If I consider all of the issues that weren’t defined and taught to me, nicely, I actually get indignant,” she mentioned, in accordance with a NDSS information launch.
That is what’s described as a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” a phrase coined by U.S. sociologist Robert Ok. Merton within the Nineteen Forties. These stereotypes, biases, and low expectations can have an effect on each side of individuals dwelling with mental disabilities.
“These preconceived notions simply do not all the time presume competence inside the incapacity neighborhood,” Pickard mentioned. “All people’s journey is totally different, however we’ve got to imagine that individuals with disabilities could make choices about what selections they’ve of their life.”
Tevlin, who appeared alongside Woody Harrelson within the 2023 movie “Champions,” is nicely conscious of the so-called “notions” society positioned on her.
“I’ve Down syndrome and it is the least fascinating factor about me,” she mentioned. “It is part of who I’m, however it’s not all of me.”
In a 2023 op-ed for PORTER journal, Tevlin mentioned that a physician instructed her mother and father that life could be laborious for her.
“They have been instructed that I could by no means speak or stroll, and I could by no means have the ability to maintain a job,” she wrote. “If solely that physician might see me now. I definitely speak and I positively stroll. The truth is, I simply walked a pink carpet.”
Tevlin additionally challenges society’s stereotypes by presenting her personal story as an individual who has passions and objectives. She does not need folks to be judging these with Down syndrome and different disabilities.
“Take the time to hearken to our tales and what we’ve got to share with the world,” she mentioned. “Simply because we’ve got Down syndrome, it does not cease us or restrict us.”
