Fifty mums and their children with Down Syndrome have got together to create an emotional Carpool Karaoke-style video.
The group was inspired by a Singing Hands video, which was signed in Makaton, a form of sign language designed to help hearing people with learning or communication difficulties using signs alongside speech.
The mums were part of the Facebook group “Designer Genes”, a support group for parents of children with Down Syndrome. Their group was for children born in 2013 and 2014.
The video, which features the song A Thousand Years by Christina Perri, has reached over 12,000 views on YouTube.
To get permission to use the song, the group contacted Perri through Twitter, who declared her support for the idea within an hour, telling the group that coincidentally she and her husband are life-long advocates of children with special needs.
The mums separately filmed themselves in their cars, and a dad from the group edited the clips together to make the final video.
Becky Carless, who was featured in the video along with her son Archie, four, said: “The whole thing is just to change people’s perceptions… You can see the bond between the children and their mums in the video. It was important to show that in the video, that we wouldn’t change them for the world.
“There’s a lot of facts floating about on awareness days. We thought this was quite special because we weren’t saying anything, we’re just letting people see a mum and their child singing in a car, jamming along to a song.
“We urge everyone to share, share, share to help us make it a success.”
The video went live ahead of World Down Syndrome Day on March 21, bearing the hashtag #wouldntchangeathing.
