This weekend we were at my in-laws' place for a very quick visit. We went largely for a housewarming for Cheryl and Ethon, which was Sunday afternoon. They have a pretty darn cool place, so yay for you guys! Sunday morning pictures are normal, we do them alot. This week, before we left for church, Carole took a few pics of my little poonchin. They didn't all turn out great, as she kept making funny faces and moving at the last second. I stole them off her camera for my collection, and when I looked at this one I just kind of stopped. It's not any super great picture. It's cute, but hey, how could it not be? She's waving at herself, that's the reason the hand is up. But that's not what I saw. Go ahead, click on the picture. Can you see it? I don't see Down syndrome. I don't see a feeding tube. I don't even see a tough cookie, open-heart surgery survivor. It's not my favorite picture of her ever, but I can't hardly stop looking at it. This...
not my favorite.
ReplyDeleteNot all people with DS have the toe gap. Too much focus on one little feature.
I get where they're coming from, though. A for effort, C- for execution.
As much as I'm not a fan of the yellow and blue Ds colors, while this is cuter, I still don't think someone who didn't know DS would get it.
ReplyDeleteI really think they need to totally rebrand Down syndrome. The name is bad, the colors are bad, the Awareness month is bad (come on October competeing with Breast Cancer awareness? Right, good idea.)
I'm all for starting with a clean slate on the name and everything that goes along with it, lol. But I'm a big thinker!
I like it. But I have that foot. And why not focus on one little thing? Especially a cute thing?
ReplyDeleteI think they are so cute, but one of those "insider" designs that only a member of the club would get. And maybe not even then! I have a T-shirt that says "Angels are made with 47 pieces" and wore it to our Down syndrome picnic and about a dozen people asked me what that meant!!
ReplyDeleteWell, coming from someone who has an e-store and happens to have a similar design, I think they need to go bigger and not focus ALL on one thing. Kennedy doesn't have the toe gap either. Can't wait to see if Kellsey does! Anyway, the Down syndrome clothing market is huge these days... to each their own... I hope they find their market and wish them great success :).
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of shirts, we've been on a big "Cat in the Hat" kick at my house with my middle baby. My oldest thinks we should get 3 shirts.
ReplyDeleteA "Thing 1" shirt for her
A "Thing 2" shirt for middle girly
and "A Thing 3-21" shirt for the baby...
But I think only a small group would find it as amusing as we all would...
Thank you all so much for sharing your feedback! I really appreciate open and honest communication about what we are doing with downsyndromefootprint.org. I would love to share with you where we were coming from with this idea. After 3 years of having a blue and yellow awareness ribbon on our vehicle and not one question we decided to create the Down syndrome footprint and place it on our vehicle with our daughters name because it was personal to us and had meaning. To our surprise and delight we started receiving so many questions and comments, “Cute foot with your daughter’s name, but why the large space between the big toe and the little toes?” After answering this question over and over again we were thrilled to talk about our daughter and raise awareness without forcing it on people. Yes, we do realize that not all children with Down syndrome have this and Annaliese actually has only a small gap between her toes, but it is a recognized medical marker of Down syndrome and it is cute and fun loving like a lot of our children. I think that one of the comments made on your blog really hit home when she mentioned we need to bring an attractive twist to Down syndrome. Since Annaliese was born 8 yrs. ago I have searched and searched for appealing and cute things that represented our daughter. Since we struggled to find them, we created the Down Syndrome Footprint Symbol and wanted to share it with others.
ReplyDeleteI am excited to say that we are now becoming a non-profit with 100% of our proceeds going directly back to individuals with Down syndrome and families of individuals with Down syndrome. Our mission is this, 1) Raise Down Syndrome Awareness and 2) Provide education, training, and employment to individuals with Down syndrome. We are currently starting a product line made by individuals with Down syndrome and also their family members. It is so important to us that when Down syndrome awareness items are sold they truly benefit the Down syndrome community.
Thanks to the great responses and demand that we have received I am excited to say that over the next 3-6 months our product line is expanding significantly and our website will be changing to meet the quality of the products we offer!
Katia
downsyndromefootprint@yahoo.com
downsyndromefootprint.org