By Jen Franklin Kearns, ds-connex team member

Many organizations and community groups have plans to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day in a big way. Unfortunately, health concerns are causing wrinkles in those plans, and most events have been canceled. While gathering together to recognize World Down Syndrome Day is preferred in most cases, a cancellation doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t acknowledge this important day. With social media, we can still unite together on 3/21 to raise awareness and acceptance for Down syndrome.

Here is a list of ideas we have compiled to help you brainstorm fun ways for your organization to commemorate World Down Syndrome Day online:

Click here to download the ds-connex World Down Syndrome Day sign.  

You can follow along on our Facebook and Instagram, where we are sharing ideas that were submitted to us for our World Down Syndrome Day giveaway, to collect ideas for next year. We’re sharing ideas daily, and at the end of the week we’ll post an album containing all of the entries on Facebook, and the entries will also be featured in an Instagram story on Friday.

We realize that many will be disappointed because highly anticipated events must be canceled in order to observe public health guidelines and protect the most vulnerable members of our community. However, this doesn’t mean that we can’t come together and find a way to unite and share a positive message about Down syndrome. In the end, it’s not really how we celebrate but why, and we can certainly move forward with plans to share this message online.