Hello! Hello! Hello!
So two very important things happened this week. One, spring is officially here (March 19/ 20 was the official spring date for most of us in the Northern Hemisphere) and while we enjoyed warmer temperatures last weekend, don’t put away those jackets yet, especially the ones reading this from the UK. Looks like a cold blast of the Arctic air is going to hit us over the weekend and how. Nothing says ‘ welcome spring’ quite like Express’s sub headline - forecasters anticipate a return of bleak, cold, wet and disruptive weather. Fret not, during the cold Easter weekend, you can read up on Guardian’s ‘The perfect antidote to winter’: readers’ favourite spring breaks in the UK and Europe and keep yourself busy with skyscanner, google flights, booking.com, kayak, tripadvisor or any site you use to compare the flights and hotels and plan your perfect virtual vacation (friendly on environment and on your pocket). Talking of things that are a win-win-win (a la Michael Scott style), it is also a good time to take a trip to your local greenhouse, nursery, herbarium, supermarket, hobby market and get those soil,seeds, saplings and accessories for gardening. A friend of mine has already shortlisted his plants of choice for the year : white and purple lilacs, white jasmine, raspberries and mint ( risky choice, who is gonna tell him!). Happy Gardening!
The second important date was March 21 which is observed as World Down Syndrome Day (WSDS). The theme this year was ‘End the Stereotypes’ and one of the campaigns ‘Assume that I Can, So Maybe I Will’ is winning hearts (and I am sure will go on to win several accolades too) on the internet. This campaign by CoorDown and National Down Syndrome Society has been hitting all the right notes and garnering much deserved praise. With more than 30 million views under its belt across various social media platforms, the campaign has been encouraging people with down syndrome to send in their personal stories of them shattering the stereotypes. The campaign features Madison Tevlin, a actor-model-activist from Canada who confronts the society on the low expectations they have of people with down syndrome and how this low expectation has a cascading impact on the opportunities, quality of life and relationships they can experience in the future.
The concept for the campaign was inspired by Marta Sodano’s speech at the UN’s WDSD conference in 2019. In her now famous speech, she mentioned “I discovered that in psychology there is a concept called ‘self-fulfilling prophecy,’ whereby a teacher who thinks that a student cannot understand would just act accordingly and therefore would not teach the student. And there you go: the prophecy self-fulfills,”.
In the ad, Madison confronts gatekeepers in personal and professional sphere in form of her parents, bartender, coach and teacher, who consciously and unconsciously infantilize people with disabilities, projecting their limitations and fears on the people with disabilities, resulting in missed opportunities, fear of the unknown and unrealised potential. She boldly proclaims, “Hey bartender, you assume that I can’t drink a margarita so you don’t serve me a margarita so I don’t drink a margarita. Your assumption becomes reality.” Similarly she addresses her parents, coach and teachers. The ad ends with an empowering message of, “If you had to assume, assume I can drink Margarita/live independently/hit harder/recite Shakespeare. Assume that I Can, so maybe I will".
I hope at this point, you clicked on the link and watched the ad (if not, do so!). Wasn’t it one incredibly powerful ad! Take a bow Marta, Madison and the campaign creators! The ad not only encourages us to confront our own prejudices and actively work towards overcoming them (lest we unwittingly project our own biases), in under 2 minutes the ad is also a case study in effective communication. Let us look at the top 3 lessons we can learn from it.
Don’t assume : The message is clear - Don’t assume, doubt the skills, talent and potential of people with disabilities. Don’t cast aspersions on what they can and can not do. Don’t infantilize people with disabilities or talk down to them. As an extension to not assuming and doubting someone else’s potential, capabilities, skills and talent, do yourself a favour and extend the same grace to yourself. Don’t assume your manager hates you or you bungled the presentation. Seek clarity. Ask often.
Know thy subject matter : Don’t faff. Talk to people for whom it is a lived experience. Read up accounts. Do extensive research. Basically, familiarise yourself with the subject and learn all that you can about it. Honestly, there is no substitute for doing your groundwork and having a clear idea of what you want to say. The ad works because it is based on lived experiences of people with disabilities, how they are stigmatised, often unconsciously and how all of this holds them back.
Presentation : How you choose to convey your content is equally, if not as important as what you are conveying. The same content could have been presented as a dry, pedantic lecture on how stereotypes hurt but the ad chooses to show how through very specific examples, that all of us can relate to, going to a bar, moving out and having your first taste of independence (and quickly realising how overrated it is, between never ending dishes, laundry and cooking, the charm of being able to eat dessert before meal, quickly wears off), participating at sports and theatre ( memories most of us do not want to relive, even if we are paid to). Confrontational conversation in such relatable settings is very effective and drives home the message real quick on how society gatekeeps.
So yeah, while the WDSD has ended, the message it sought to promote - remembering to cheer, applaud and actively support, holds true for the rest of 364 days too. Once again, cheers to every organisation and individual who was a part of the campaign conceptualisation, creation and promotion. More power to all of you. Happy weekend!
P.S. CoorDown’s instagram account is lit at the moment. Go and check out the heartwarming stories that are honestly giving us something to smile about!
