Spreading awareness with socks: World celebrates Down Syndrome Day

Marking World Down Syndrome Day, people around the world are sporting colourful or mismatched socks today, in a bid to raise awareness about the condition.

World Down Syndrome Day, a global awareness day, is observed on 21 March every year, and has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012.

Trending on social media with the hashtag #LOTSOFSOCKS, the initiative, organised by Down Syndrome International (DSi) aims to act as an attention grabber which directs the conversation to World Down Syndrome Day and its plight to help raise awareness of Down syndrome.

The condition is a result of a naturally occurring chromosomal arrangement, and usually causes varying degrees of intellectual and physical disability and associated medical issues.

This year, DSi, a UK registered charity committed to improving quality of life for people with Down syndrome worldwide, is focused on ensuring inclusion through enabling people with Down syndrome to speak up and influence government policy and action all aspects of society.

The #MyVoiceMyCommunity campaign seeks to establish the importance of political activism and to outline the key policies that affect the lives of people with Down syndrome.