A group of mothers have come together to create a truly moving ‘Carpool Karaoke’ style video with their children who have Down Syndrome in celebration of World Down Syndrome Day.
The 50 mothers and their children lip sync and perform Makaton to the tune of Christina Perri’s ‘A Thousand Years.’
Makaton is a language programme which uses signs and symbols alongside speech, designed to help hearing for people with learning or communication difficulties.
The video has now gone viral, with such well known celebrities as TV presenter James Corden – renowned for his Carpool Karaoke TV Show – revealing it moved him to tears.
The mothers throughout the video are all part of a Facebook group called Designer Genes – a group specifically for parents of children with Down Syndrome born in 2013/2014. They came together “to show the world just how ordinary and fun life with the condition is and how they ‘Wouldn’t Change a Thing’.”
In accordance with 35-year-old Rebecca Carless, one of the mothers in the project, the idea was originally inspired by videos created by Singing Hands, an organisation helping people learn Makaton. The video was edited by one of the fathers, Jamie McCallum.
“The idea is, we are just normal mums, we love our kids, they love us, and they are just like other four-year-olds, we wouldn’t change them.”
Published just over a week ago, the video now has over 500,000 views on YouTube, with many people sharing it on social media too.
