Blog For Down Syndrome

One of my favorite bloggers, Dave Hingsburger just put up a great post on his blog that addresses the controversy surrounding the movie ‘Tropic of Thunder’. I can’t say it any better and you should head over there and read the original post and the comments.

My comment on his blog.
Bravo Dave!
I think one reason people use the R word in a demeaning way is because they don’t have anyone getting up in their face. I can think of a few “incorrect words” that someone would not use on the playground, in the workplace or out in public for fear of some form of retaliation. Physical or otherwise.
I have blogged about this before and was trying to come up with a response to the controversy surrounding this new movie. I don’t need to now. You put the words out there for me. I’ll just link to your post. It says it all.
On two occasions I have seen Ben Stiller on TV lending his star status to support fund raising for Autism. I question his true commitment.
I look forward to handing out some cards. Great idea!

I’ve used that quote as an email tag line for several months. I don’t even remember where I found it but it really resonated with me. We all have differences in our looks, speech, personal habits, beliefs, likes/dislikes. But despite those differences we are all more alike than we are different. We learn to appreciate those differences in each other and it fosters compassion and tolerance.

Today I discovered the National Down Syndrome Congress (NDSC) has kicked off the “More Alike” campaign so I wanted share the information here on my blog. The theme of this awareness campaign, “We’re More Alike Than Different”, is aimed to bring a message to doctors, teachers, employers and your neighbors that people with Down syndrome are more like everybody else than they are different. People with Down syndrome love to socialize, dance, bowl, and hold down jobs. The NDSC has prepared paid advertising, literature, promotion materials and public service announcements (PSAs) that can be placed with local media outlets. There are videos and print materials available for download at the web site. I have read the materials and watched the videos and I think it is quite well done … and according to their web site there are more materials to come. Consider supporting this campaign by contacting local media outlets, your organizations and employers newsletters or use your own web site.

There is a special section of their web site dedicated to this campaign where you can learn more about supporting the organization, promote this campaign and download materials. If you are a parent, family member, professional or you care about someone with Down syndrome think about how you could use these freely available materials to help raise public awareness and support a great organization with their efforts. You can contact local media outlets, run print ad PSA’s in your own organizations newsletter or put the videos and ads up on your web site.
http://www.ndsccenter.org/morealike/