How To Show Your Support For Down Syndrome Families Without Virtue Signalling
For starters, don't tag parents with Down syndrome children in every single awareness post
This week, World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD) was celebrated globally on the 21st day of the third month, signifying the "uniqueness of the triplication (trisomy) of the 21st chromosome which causes Down syndrome". It's also a global awareness day that has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012.
Nevertheless, understanding the lives of families living with Down syndrome is not something that should just happen on one day. In fact, some believe support should be taken mainly offline.
Writer Kat Abianac, who has a son with Down syndrome, shares some ways you can connect with Down syndrome children and their parents without relying on social media platforms.
News flash: Being aware of awareness doesn't make you inclusive. Instead, it might create the impression that you are virtue signalling instead.
DO... Instead of social media posts, try picking up the phone and inviting them (and their child) for a catch up together with your family.
Let's not compare who has the worse life at the table, or how parents of special needs children have been dealing with 'everything they've been dealt with'. Exactly who could ever win that conversation?
DO... Tell these parents that they doing a great job. And do it with love (and sincerity) because everyone has their own story.
This applies even if your sibling or child is a special needs individual. If you've met one person with Down syndrome, you've met one person with Down syndrome.
DO... Ask people with Down syndrome about their lives during conversations, and not the person next to them.
DON'T... Cry at photos on the internet shared by someone's mum whose son took a girl with Down syndrome to prom
While it's a super exciting and thoughtful gesture, but it shouldn't be unexpected when someone with a disability is included in experiences like everyone else. She deserves the best of the best – just like everyone else's kids.
DO... Watch videos and movies willingly and knowingly participated in by people with Down syndrome. For example, you can cry your eyes out watching carpool karaoke videos featuring these beautiful individuals and their parents.
Text: Kat Abianac/Now to Love