Ridiculous discrimination excuses mocked in catchy World Down Syndrome Day campaign

The National Coordination of Associations of People with Down Syndrome is spearheading an awareness campaign that highlights real-life instances of ableism as well as the tired excuses used to discriminate.

Ridiculous Excuses promotes the right of people with intellectual disabilities to fully participate in society by surfacing some of the more outlandish excuses for people with Downs Syndrome and their families as to why this shouldn’t be the case.

Brought to life by a hero film that re-enacts these mental gymnastics the comedic piece combines five scenes of everyday ableism from the workplace to school and sports. Among the lamest knockbacks encountered, “It’s not your fault, we’re the ones who are not prepared to take you on the field trip!”

Other classics include: “we already have a child like you in the group”; “we don’t have enough chairs to invite you to the meeting”; and “we closed registration just 10 minutes ago!”

In partnership with TikTok, Small New York and CoorDown is showing just how daft these excuses sound, with a custom jingle, sticker and a ‘RidiculousExcuses’ hashtag, enabling people to share the fun.

Antonella Falugiani, president of CoorDown ODV, commented: “With this global campaign, we touch on an issue that concerns each of us: naming and making a phenomenon visible that people with Down syndrome and their parents, brothers, sisters and caregivers experience on a daily basis. They may seem like small events, but in reality, they are real discriminations, often done with a smile of circumstance or unawareness that nevertheless mark the lives and hearts of those who suffer them. The time has come to break down this wall as well and expose the false ‘good intentions’ of those who out of laziness or lack of understanding still exclude people with intellectual disabilities.”

Luca Lorenzini and Luca Pannese, executive creative directors at Small New York, added: “When we heard what kind of excuses people with Down syndrome and their families were receiving for being excluded, we said that these excuses deserved to be brought to light and ridiculed. With our friends at Stabbiolo, we came up with a jingle that would emphasize how absurd these arguments really were.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if all those who are discriminated against learned this jingle and sang it as a response to those who, with a smirk, make excuses for the exclusion? Wouldn’t it be nice if people with Down syndrome learned it, yes, but also people with other disabilities, or any other person who is discriminated against?”

Airing exclusively on CoorDown’s TikTok channel on launch day, the eye-opening campaign will call out the social norms, common sense and codes that impede those with disabilities from fully participating in society.

CoorDown previously secured the singing services of none other than Sting to mark World Down Syndrome Day.