World Down Syndrome Day 2023; March 21st.

FORUM: "With Us Not For Us." World Down Syndrome Day 2023.

The message of With Us Not For Us is key to a human rights-based approach to disability. We are committed to moving on from the outdated charity model of disability, where people with disability were treated as objects of charity, deserving of pity and relying on others for support. A human rights-based approach views people with disabilities as having the right to be treated fairly and have the same opportunities as everyone else, working WITH others to improve the lives of the persons with down syndrome.  Follow the conversation with the hashtags: #WithUsNotForUs and #WorldDownSyndromeDay.

CAMPAIGN: For WDSD 2023, we call for people and organisations around the world to be With Us Not For Us. Read more about the global campaign here.

In December 2022, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution, promoting and mainstreaming easy-to-understand communication for accessibility for persons with disabilities. 

EVENTS: 

New York

On World Down Syndrome Day 2023, the Down Syndrome International network will host the 12th World Down Syndrome Day Conference (WDSDC) at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Geneva

For the World Down Syndrome Day 2023, self-advocates with Down syndrome and intellectual disabilities from around the world will be gathering in Geneva to discuss the resolution and speak up for their right to easy-to-understand communication. We welcome you to our 2023 WDSD celebrations.

World Down Syndrome Day - Geneva 2023;
20 – 21 Mar, 2023.
- 14:00 (CET) - Geneva - Switzerland.

The first commemoration of World Down Syndrome Day.

UN Secretary-General's Message

Today marks the first commemoration of World Down Syndrome Day.  I congratulate the global partnership of governments, activists, families, professionals and others that worked so tirelessly and passionately to bring this Day into existence.
For too long, persons with Down syndrome, including children, have been left on the margins of society. In many countries, they continue to face stigma and discrimination as well as legal, attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder their participation in their communities.
Discrimination can be as invidious as forced sterilization or as subtle as segregation and isolation through both physical and social barriers.  Persons with Down syndrome are often denied the right to equal recognition before the law, as well as the right to vote or be elected. Intellectual impairments have also been seen as legitimate grounds for depriving persons with Down syndrome of their liberty, and for holding them in specialized institutions, sometimes for their entire lives.
In many countries, girls and boys with intellectual disabilities lack sufficient access to mainstream education.  The prejudice that children with Down syndrome obstruct the education of others has led some parents of children with intellectual disabilities to put their children in special schools or keep them at home.  Yet research shows — and more people are coming to understand — that diversity in the classroom leads to learning and understanding that benefit all children.
The United Nations has worked for decades to ensure the well-being and human rights of all people. These efforts were strengthened by the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006. The Convention embodies a paradigm shift in which persons with disabilities are no longer regarded as objects of charity and welfare, but as persons with equal rights and dignity who can make an enormous contribution to society in their own right.
On this day, let us reaffirm that persons with Down syndrome are entitled to the full and effective enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms.  Let us each do our part to enable children and persons with Down syndrome to participate fully in the development and life of their societies on an equal basis with others. Let us build an inclusive society for all.

Ban Ki-moon