Not Special Needs

"Special needs? Really? It would be 'special' if people with Down syndrome needed to eat dinosaur eggs. That would be special."



The "Not Special Needs" campaign was introduced for World Down Syndrome Day 2017, launched by CoorDown, Italy's national organisation for people with Down syndrome and developed by Publicis New York. It stars Lauren Potter, a popular actress with Down syndrome (via).

“The term ‘special needs’ is a euphemistic way to speak about persons with disabilities and their needs. The reality is people with Down syndrome do not have different or special needs, although they may sometimes meet those needs in different ways, they have the same needs as all of us… jobs, friends, love and simply the need to be seen and treated equally. We are so proud of this work for our incredible partner CoorDown who does so much great work courageously challenging preconceptions, and we hope our film maybe goes a little way to changing how people view those with Down syndrome.”
Andy Bird, chief creative officer Publicis New York