Supporting Down’s Syndrome Awareness

It is Down’s Syndrome Awareness week and here at HOMESIn our LinkedIn feeds have been full of celebration. Our Business Development Manager, Adam Mansell, whose son has downs, was 18 last week. But alas there was no buying his dad a pint in the pub, the pandemic robbed him of his dream. This does offer us a great opportunity to reflect on how much things have improved over the last couple of decades.

We now see many children with downs go to mainstream schools, with lots more representation in the media and there are so many role models. These include 21-year-old professional model, Madeline Stuart, The Peanut Butter Falcon — a film about a man with down syndrome who runs away from a residential nursing home to pursue his dream of becoming a wrestler. These incredible artists all of whom have downs. Spanish politician Ángela Bachiller and Chris Nikic who became the first person with Down’s syndrome to finish an Ironman Triathlon.

I have seen lots of fundraising activities going on around the world, a lot of which involve socks and plenty of awareness campaigns. There is a big push to get people with learning disabilities into employment and a great video about hiring people with downs can be seen here.