Want to join the #notspecialneeds campaign for World Down Syndrome Day 2017?

The CoorDown Italy collaborative video 'Not Special Needs' released late last week, has been enthusiastically received around the world, especially for its use of humour to make the point about universal human needs.

Do you have a favourite scene? The guy swaggering down the supermarket aisle in a full suit of armour is popular!

You can join in the #notspecialneeds social media campaign with Down Syndrome Australia, one of the international collaborators:

Write your poster, take a photo of you holding your poster and send it to the DSA Facebook page as a message to share on the Down syndrome Australia website, Facebook and Twitter. 

Here is what you put on your poster:

"I need ..........

Is that special? 

#notspecialneeds"

Visit the DSA Facebook page to see the posters already shared.

#notspecilaneeds ! World Down Syndrome Day video's important message

Starting with Julius

The 2017 World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD17) video campaign created by Publicis NY for CoorDown, Italy and with the participation of other Down syndrome organisations, including Down Syndrome Australia, is a powerful example of how inclusive and authentic representation of people with disability in mainstream media can help change cultural attitudes and assumptions to disability – even subconscious attitudes predicated on the well-meaning euphemism “special needs” ...

Watch the best short movie of the year

Maeriah Nicholl, Living with a Little Moxie, 17 March 2017

#NotSpecialNeeds just came out in time for World Down Syndrome Day and it is my favorite short of 2017.

... Main points from the #NotSpecialNeeds campaign are:

• People with Down syndrome have human needs; not special
• Accommodation for disability isn’t a “special need”
• The words “special needs” segregates, excludes and stigmatizes; it’s not by and for people with disabilities (who largely consider “special needs” to be patronizing and condescending) ...