Happy World Down Syndrome Day : Celebrating Parenthood

From the day I had decided that I wanted to make a video for World Down Syndrome Day, I knew that I wanted to focus more on parents than the kids since most of the awareness videos primarily had children.  I wanted an active communication with the world. The world that still patronises our children and the world which believes that we as parents are faking the happiness.

I can still find people being amazed ( in a sad way) about a family being happy after knowing that they have someone with a special needs to care for. A lot of my friends have never said it openly, but I could always feel it in their eyes or in their nonverbal communication, or when they had said that they wouldn’t have been able to do what I am doing. I still fail to understand the big deal with this. Yes, the road has been bumpy and the struggles have been plenty, but at the core it’s not the special needs you care for, it is your child!

Interestingly enough, I soon realised that all my friends irrespective of their children being typical or special needs had almost the same issues. After scratching the surface a little, it turned out that parenting at the core is same for both. One realises this only after becoming a parent that he/she can never stop caring for his/her children irrespective of their age or condition (At my age, I still have to call my mother once a day to tell her that I am still alive).

Our challenges, fears, insecurities, happiness are different yet very similar. And it never ceased to amuse me that both these groups had thought of each others lives as either too easy or too difficult. But as per my research I knew that apart from the therapies and medical interventions, both these groups go through almost similar emotions on their parenting journey. Both groups get tired, confused, doubt themselves yet are grateful and feel that they have  transformed completely after becoming parents.

You’d love reading this : Special Needs Parents: 6 Practical Ways To Stop Worrying And Start Living  

I wanted to convey a message to the world. The message which was so close to my heart because I was talking to these parents day in and day out. I knew about these parents of children with special needs and what they go through, and I knew how strong they are. It was evident that they are truly happy caring for their children and that they don’t lead an unhappy life, at least not because of their child with special needs.

When I decided to do a social experiment where we could talk about parenting to both sets of parents and see if we can connect the dots and bring out the message loud and clear, I was extremely lucky to have spoken to Megha Ramaswamy’ a wonderful human being and an award-winning director about my idea and when it turned out that she too believed in the concept and the cause, I knew my video was in the right hands.

I was always convinced that any work when taken up with good intentions, would find supporters and here I was talking to someone who was going to possibly transform this idea of a video into a beautiful reality.

With the support of World down syndrome federation of Tamilnadu, Dr. Rekha Ramachandran, my fellow parents (Aswathi- wouldn’t have been possible without you), my family, Priyanka and Rhehan from causeandeffect and a few lovely people who opened their heart for this, we could make this dream into a reality.

This isn’t the idea anymore. This is a reality which is astonishing as well as heart warming. This is now a combined effort of everyone who has lost his sleep in the last 15 days and have worked like crazy to make it happen.  I am so proud and emotional to share this video with you all today. It has been exhausting, but it has also been fulfilling to see it the way it has turned out. and yes, I am extremely humbled to share this beautiful video with you all today. Enjoy and share as much as you can to spread the message of  happiness. Please share the video with #lovewdsd16 

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