CoorDown has released their annual video in honor of World Down Syndrome Day 2025, which is tomorrow, March 21. And I Wish I’d Made it because I would have loved to have been part of the production of a smart, powerful, meaningful ad that supports a cause that’s important to me.
CoorDown is an organization dedicated to “rais[ing] awareness of the potential of people with Down syndrome” — true inclusion in all areas of life, respecting them and giving them agency in decision-making — and taking action through advocacy. The campaign was produced in partnership with a number of other advocacy organizations, including the National Down Syndrome Society, who said:
“People with disabilities deserve a seat at the table where decisions are made about their lives, their futures, and their rights. Let’s work together toward a world where every voice is valued.”
That’s so right, and it’s expressed so effectively in this ad.
Big disclaimer: I am an individual with an invisible disability, but I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to speak for the disability community as a whole. I can just speak for me and my own opinions.
(And here’s a link to the descriptive transcript.)
Why I love it
I love it for a lot of reasons, of course, but two big ones stood out.
1. It includes actual disabled people, and in a position of agency.
The ad industry has been getting progressively better about attitudes toward disability — it’s gone from not including disabled people at all, to including disabled people as sob stories, to disability pr0n, to “if So-and-So can do it, what’s your excuse?” (I said it was progress. I didn’t say they’re there yet.) This ad includes disabled people not as objects but as subjects, speaking for themselves instead of just being something to be looked at.
Of course, there’s a good reason that focus was so strong: The organization behind the video is literally an organization that advocates for people with Down syndrome being treated as subjects, speaking for themselves and having agency. Their video for World Down Syndrome Day 2024 addressed the assumptions that create limits on the lives of disabled people, and the power of just assuming they can. With the ad industry still lagging behind in areas of representation in ads and involvement at the table making ads, they need to look to this one as a guidepost moving forward.
(Credit to SMALL and Indiana Production for making both of these videos happen.)
2. The messaging is straightforward and strong.
During discussions of disabled people’s agency and self-advocacy, one commonly used phrase is “Nothing About Us Without Us.” And I do love that, in part because it’s catchy and it rhymes, and you know I love that stuff, and because it gets the point across in an effective way.
But “No Decision Without Us,” and the insistent I want to be where the decisions are made, is straightforward and powerful. It takes “Nothing About Us Without Us” and turns it into an action item — “Not Without Us” means including us where it counts. Not just consulting disabled people and getting their opinion on whatever you’re doing — bringing them into the room with as much respect and consideration as you’d extend to anyone else in the process.
To be clear: I still love “Nothing About Us Without Us,” still think it’s great, and don’t want to see it go anywhere. I love cleverness and rhyme. But some messages are big enough that you have to just come out and say it, and all the elements of this ad say it in a way that can’t be misunderstood.
The concepting, messaging, casting, directing, videography, music, performances, all of it come together in an ad that slams through the doors and demands the attention and respect it’s owed, and it’s awesome.
Please jump in if you have comments
So that’s why it’s an Ad I Wish I’d Made.
So, now, and first of all: Both of those dresses were hideous, and the girl’s outfit at the end was fire, I will hear no argument on the matter.
Moving on: For all that it was great, the ad wasn’t perfect, and I don’t want this post to be a praisefest where none of its flaws can be discussed. And I don’t want it to be a personal soapbox as you stand around listening.
I always welcome comments, but I particularly encourage them in this case — if you’re also a part of the disability community, or if you have a disability and don’t consider yourself part of the community, I’d love to hear your feelings on the whole thing. The video, this post, everything — no blog post about us without the space for us to speak about it.