Awareness
Campaigns
2026 Love From The Start
Receiving a Down syndrome diagnosis for your child can be a moment of profound loneliness and emotional uncertainty. That first step on the parenthood and advocacy journey can be filled with fear and misconceptions, begging the question, “What will my child’s future look like?”
Hundreds of Down syndrome community members have came #TogetherAgainstLoneliness to deliver an important message of inclusion and connection to new and expecting parents:
you are not alone.
2025 We Deserve Care
In 1950, only 1% of adults with Down syndrome lived to 40 years of age. Today, over 30% of Canadians with Down syndrome are over 40. This dramatic demographic shift, confirmed by a recent 2025 population study, has created an urgent gap in our current healthcare systems and training. Now, we need Canada’s healthcare systems to evolve to meet the needs of the growing adult and senior population with Down syndrome so they can receive the care they deserve. Learn more about this urgent issue at WeDeserveCare.ca.
2025 It Was Never Okay
Unfair barriers, inadequate funding, and exclusionary practices limit access to education, healthcare, employment, housing, and recreation. A new powerful photo series was released depicting these five major issues challenging Canadians with Down syndrome today, bringing awareness to what needs to be fixed. We asked all Canadians to join our call to #ImproveOurSupports and sign our petition demanding the government prioritize the rights of Canadians with Down syndrome.
2024 The Friendship
It can be hard for people with Down syndrome to make friends. Social barriers caused by misconceptions about the abilities of people with Down syndrome can make life very lonely. The Friendship campaign highlighted these challenges, inviting the public to reconsider their own preconcieved notions. We created a social experience aboard the Tallship in Toronto Harbour where 13 individuals with Down syndrome set sail with members of the public. The journey showed that given the opportunity, people can make meaningful connections and possibly new friendships.
2024 Assume That I Can
Our negative assumptions about people with Down syndrome can lead us to treat them in such a way that these assumptions become reality. In sociology, this is called a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy.’ Why not reverse our perspectives? If we have positive assumptions about people with Down syndrome, they will have opportunities at school, at work, in relationships, and in other activities. And maybe these positive assumptions will become reality. This is the message that became a global phenomenon as one of the most successful awareness campaigns in the Down syndrome community. #AssumeThatICan
2023 Care Instructions
People with Down syndrome are now outliving their parents. This campaign captures a collection of video instructions from parents shared to future sibling caregivers to bring awareness and support for the resources they will one day need.
2023 Here I Am
These powerful portraits stare down the misconception that people with Down syndrome do not live into their senior years. In fact, life expectancy has doubled for Canadians with Down syndrome in the past 40 years. Take a journey through this photo essay of portraits and childhood photos.
2022 Inployable
Over 50% of Canadians with Down syndrome can’t find paid work. That’s why we launched the world’s first Down syndrome resource on LinkedIn -Inployable. Jobseekers with Down syndrome can join Inployable to connect with employers who are looking to hire.
2022 Love Means…
With this photo essay CDSS continues to dispel misconceptions and lack of understanding about the lives of people with Down syndrome, while serving to change the public narrative about the range of emotions they experience.
2021 Mindsets
In 2021 CDSS introduced Mindsets, a globally unprecedented research study to chart the effects of physical exercise on cognition for people in the Down syndrome community. The study will investigate how physical fitness is linked to mental fitness. If successful, the results could have an enormous impact on the lives of people with Down syndrome around the world.
2019 Project Understood
Voice technology doesn’t always understand people with Down syndrome. Project Understood is ensuring the future of voice technology is more inclusive. The Canadian Down Syndrome Society is working with Google to collect voice samples from the adult Down syndrome community to create a database that can help train Google’s technology to better understand people with Down syndrome.
2018 Endangered Syndrome
The goal of the campaign is to raise public awareness and begin a deeper conversation about the challenges that people with Down syndrome face in accessing adequate supports in the key areas of education, employment and housing. The campaign is supported by videos featuring candid interviews with parents, people living with Down syndrome and experts that serve to deepen the dialogue around these challenges.
2017 Anything But Sorry
Because No Baby Should Be Welcomed With A Sorry
The goal of this campaign is to show Canadians that the only wrong way to welcome a baby into the world is by saying sorry, something many families hear after finding out their new baby has Down syndrome.
2016 Down Syndrome Answers
CDSS works to advocate for and support people with Down syndrome by providing information, resources, and assistance, for parents and families of children with Down syndrome, professionals, and self-advocates. We aim to provide support throughout all life stages – prenatal, early childhood, school years, adulthood, and retirement – to help fulfill our vision, where “all people are valued, fully participating citizens.”
Awareness Dates
March 21, 2022
