A campaign has brought the prejudices that people with Down Syndrome face and has pulled no punches in conveying just how frustrating and demeaning these can be.
In the description of the video, CoorDown, leading Italian non-profit that promotes and protects the rights of people with Down syndrome said: “Our negative assumptions about people with Down syndrome can lead us to treat them in such a way that these assumptions become reality.
“Why not reverse our perspectives? If we have positive assumptions about people with Down syndrome, we’ll give them more opportunities in their schools, workplaces, relationships and activities. And maybe these positive assumptions will become reality.”
“Assume That I Can”
Throughout the video, the protagonist, a young woman with Down Syndrome played by Madison Tevlin, challenges the low expectations that others have around her. These vary from simply having a cocktail to studying Shakespeare or living alone.
Each time she is denied one of these opportunities, Tevlin reminds those stopping her from doing more that they are the ones limiting her, not her disability.
She then points out that if you serve her the cocktail, believe she can live on her own, learn Shakespeare, she then will be able to. Because you believe it.
This video references the psychological concept of ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’. Marta Sodano, a 29-year-old Italian woman with Down syndrome, spoke about this during the World Down Syndrome Day Conference saying: “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 they would not teach the student. And there you go: the prophecy self-fulfils.”
This is a sociological and psychological concept, first described in 1948 by the US sociologist Robert K. Merton, illustrating how people’s assumptions and expectations affect events to such an extent that the initial prophecy comes true.
This concept, combined with Sodano’s words, inspired the campaign.
Karim Bartoletti, Partner/MD/Executive Producer, said to Branding in Asia: “We thought the insight of the campaign was so strong that we adopted it in every aspect of production.
″‘You assume that I will shoot this campaign like any other commercial that deals with disabilities?’ ‘You assume we cannot find an actor or an actress that can carry the weight of the whole film on his or her shoulder?’ ‘You assume we cannot get Rich Lee to direct it and Chris Probst to light it?’”
Adding: “If we want to create awareness and break boundaries through the work that we create and produce, we need to do it ourselves. We assumed that we could and we certainly did, because it certainly shows in the originality and power and creative strength of this year’s Coordown World Down Syndrome Day campaign.
“We are very proud of how the “Assume That I Can” campaign is unlike anything else we have seen or done before.”
You can say that again.