Just before #WDSD18, we received a Facebook message from a dad called Jamie telling us that he was part of a FB group of parents of young children with DS. With this message he sent us the first draft of a video of Mums and their children copying the Singing Hands Carpool Karaoke of Christina Perri’s “A Thousand Years”. He told us that the group had seen the original SH carpool and they felt that this song and style of video was something they wanted to recreate en masse for maximum impact for #WDSD18.
The mums in this video and the dad who created it met online and got together because they wanted to show the world just how ordinary and fun life with the condition is and how they “Wouldn’t Change a Thing”.
Instantly, it was obvious that the group had created something magical but how much did we underestimate the worldwide reaction! That video has now been views over 350M times and is now known as the “50 Mums, 50 Kids, 1 Extra Chromosome” video.
The video was shared around the world spawning umpteen versions of of the song by other SEN groups, schools and dance groups replicating their video. It seemed to be on every news channel and every publication round the world – it went truly viral! It garnered support from Christina Perri herself AND the king of Carpool Karaoke, James Corden, who retweeted the video saying it made him cry! The families even ended up on the famous ‘This Morning’ sofas with Phillip and Holly!
One of the many recreations we saw was one dance group who’d learnt the signs on the island of Tuvulu – a tiny, remote Polynesian Island in the Pacific Ocean – to include one of their dancers with DS. Such is the power of the Internet, eh?
On the back of this success, the Down’s Syndrome Awareness Charity “Wouldn’t Change a Thing” was born and we are thrilled to continue to work with this group on other exciting projects. Who would’ve thought when Ella and I popped into my car on my Mum & Dad’s driveway one Sunday afternoon, that we were going to inspire this. It’s just amazing.
Enjoy.
SMI x