Last item is working to include more individuals with disabilities in marketing
Today’s news items have a theme of changing your perspective on how (and where) to see individuals with Down syndrome.
- Ryan Niemiec writes on how, when meeting a person with a more obvious disability, to focus on their strengths:
You notice what is different. You see a deficit. You focus on the problem. Probably, you have thoughts about how the person is limited in different ways. You might have an emotional reaction of pity. It’s OK. Be honest about your initial reaction. But then, move beyond it. Here’s how.
Click the link to read on how to focus on those strengths. Niemiec shares that he will be presenting this summer at the National Down Syndrome Congress annual convention, this year in Indianapolis, Indiana. I, too, will be presenting there and hope to meet you at the convention if you are attending.
- Leah Thompson, who blogs at Our Cora Bean, shares her birth story with her daughter who required open heart surgery. It begins:
My love, my girl, my beautiful little Cora Bean was born a little over 9 weeks ago, and stunned us all by being born with Down syndrome. It was something I had never imagined, had never considered, had never expected could be possible.But here she is in our lives. And I have never been more grateful. We are so blessed by this beautiful little being.
- Country music duo, and married couple, Joey & Rory, recently welcomed a daughter who happened to have Down syndrome. Rory, the father, shares their story along with a wonderful video of the home birth and their welcoming of their daughter, at his blog This Life I Live.
- Do you ever notice how current advertising is almost blatantly diverse. I say blatantly because there are certain advertisements that you see where the diversity seems a bit forced. It reflects a commitment by ad execs to include people of varied ethnicities and, increasingly, sexual orientation, as possible. But, do you ever note the diversity that is not represented? Individuals with disabilities, those with physical or (particularly) intellectual or developmental disabilities, are rarely included in modern marketing. But that is changing.
It is changing in part due to Katie Driscoll, one mom who is including her daughter with Down syndrome in advertising campaigns. Her reason?
I didn’t want people to feel sorry for her or for us because I was proud of who she was.
More items like this can be found over at the News page. Caution, it can be a time suck as you scroll through the year’s worth of quick blurbs on news items.
Yay INCLUSION! That’s awesome.