World Down Syndrome Day is every year in March. It’s an opportunity to smash stereotypes and showcase projects that have worked hard to challenge misconceptions about Down Syndrome.
There are hundreds of amazing organisations around the world on a mission to make change, here are three of the best:
Stand Out Socks
Out of 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK, only about 5% have paid employment. Co-Founder, Ross, was once one of these people. After years of unemployment, he and his brother, Christian, decided to change the narrative. Together they launched Stand Out Socks a company offering meaningful employment to people with learning disabilities. More than just a business, it’s a movement that challenges stereotypes.
Assume That I Can
The Canadian Down Syndrome Society wanted to flip negative assumptions about people with Down Syndrome. If we assume that people with Down Syndrome have opportunities at school, at work and in life and maybe these positive assumptions will become reality.
Wouldn’t Change a Thing
It began with a video, for World Down Syndrome Day in 2018, that went viral. The video was called 50 Mums | 50 Kids | 1 Extra Chromosome. It became one of the most popular not-for-profit viral videos of all time, with more than 500 million views and established the hashtag: #WouldntChangeAThing. The impact on modernising mainstream perceptions of Down Syndrome were so big that the founders used this success to set up Wouldn’t Change a Thing to continue the mission.
Organisations like these help to shine a light on the rights of everyone, regardless of learning ability, to be treated equally. Figures from Mencap highlight that people with a learning disability have poorer health outcomes than the general population.
Women with a learning disability, on average die 23 years younger than women in the general population. On average, men with a learning disability die 20 years younger than those in the general population.
Mencap also list some of the reasons that people with a learning disability face poorer health outcomes. Many of them feel shockingly simple to address:
- a lack of accessible transport
- patients not being identified as having a learning disability
- staff having little understanding about learning disability
- failure to recognise that a person with a learning disability is unwell
- failure to make a correct diagnosis
- anxiety or a lack of confidence working with people with a learning disability
- lack of joint working from different care providers
- not enough involvement allowed from carers
- inadequate aftercare or follow-up care
If you are running a project that seeks to address disability inequity faced by people with learning disabilities, we want to hear from you.
Please join our mailing list to stay updated on funding opportunities to make sure that people with learning disabilities have the same opportunities to be healthy as everyone else.