On Thursday, March 21, Cordova Recreation & Park District (CRPD) celebrated its third consecutive year contributing to Down syndrome awareness. In honor of World Down Syndrome Day, CRPD employees in the District Office wore wacky socks to work, participating in the #rockyoursocks campaign. To participate, CRPD posted a photo of the team's wacky socks to various social media platforms, hoping to bring awareness and begin conversations about disability dialogue.
“The idea for socks denotating the day came from the chromosomes themselves. Before you have a child, when you do the genetic tests and look at a picture of the baby’s chromosomes, the chromosomes look like little socks,” Brooke Daly, Vice President of the Down Syndrome Association of Connecticut, said.
“Socks are such an easy and fun way to get people involved. Plus, they are a conversation starter. The whole point of the awareness day is to get the conversation about disabilities started. In general, I’d say talking about disabilities is still not the most comfortable topic. But if we can bring awareness to Down syndrome and discuss openly what it is and what it is not, we can remove the rumors and fear that surround it simply because its unfamiliar,” Brooke said.
Brooke has firsthand experience understanding the misconceptions about Down syndrome. Before her son, now six years-old, Brooke says she knew very little about Down syndrome. “Until I had to face it personally, my knowledge about Down syndrome was limited. Now, I spend a lot of my time trying to help people understand the genetic condition and encouraging others to have conversations about it. Sometimes I’ll just be at the grocery store and see another child is interested in my son’s differences. When that happens, I encourage the parent and child to come talk and bond with him, so they can see that he’s more alike than different. My town was very receptive to the Down syndrome awareness push and now all schools, businesses, coffee shops - you name it - in our area celebrate the day and help us spread awareness physically and digitally,” Brooke said.
About WDSD: World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD) occurs every year on March 21. The significance behind the date 3/21 comes from the genetic condition itself: having 3 copies of a 21st chromosome is also known as Down Syndrome. The extra chromosome affects behaviors, appearances and mental processing time, which often leads to a need for extra help in traditional education systems. While schools have implemented special needs programs, it is important for all businesses to participate, demonstrating awareness, support and spread the belief that ‘knowledge is power.’
Join the campaign and rock your (crazy) socks for World Down Syndrome Day to celebrate unique differences that make the world brighter.