From March 17 to 31, WYA members and friends from around the world were in solidarity for a WYA online campaign to celebrate International Down Syndrome Day.

The campaign, led by WYA Croatia, invited WYA members and friends to draw a multicolored chromosome, take a photo of their drawing and to upload their photos in social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtags #DrawingBattle4DS.

When asked on the purpose of the campaign “Anomalies on the 21st chromosome are feature of Down Syndrome. Drawing is a fun way of expressing our creativity. In that way, we want to show that many of us do not know how to draw, just as a person with Down Syndrome might not know something we do. On the other hand, we know how to do many other things. We do not know everything, neither we can do everything, but despite our weaknesses, we all have inherent dignity and we do not deserve to be discriminated in any part or level of our life. It’s the same with people with Down syndrome. In this campaign we want to invite you all to think about your strengths and your weaknesses and to support people with Down syndrome, who make this world much more beautiful place to live on,” organizing team from WYA Croatia shares.

Below are some of the posts by our WYA members and friends:

The WYA Croatia Team (left photo) and WYA Founder and CEO Anna Halpine (right photo) join the global World Down Syndrome Day online campaign.

WYA Asia Pacific Regional Director Mary Imbong (left), WYA Europe Director of Advocacy Antonio Mellado (center) and WYA Latin America Regional Director Manuel Soto (right) support the campaign to raise awareness on World Down Syndrome Day by drawing chromosomes.

WYA Headquarters wishes to thank WYA Croatia for leading the campaign and for everyone who joined and supported the online campaign in celebration of World Down Syndrome Day.

Current WYANA Intern Cecile Carron also wrote a blog article about the international celebration. You may click here to read her article.