“I like to work because I get to meet new people and make new friends.”

This year for World Down Syndrome Day we teamed up with ACTDSA to hold a photographic exhibition at the Canberra Centre featuring ACTDSA members in open employment. This was produced as part of our employment project Right to Work.

Each of the images shows members in their workplaces along with a quote about why having a job is meaningful to them. 

Each day for the entire month of March we shared employment success stories from across the country.

Whether it is working in an office, at a hospital or behind a bar pouring beers, each of the stories are a celebration of employees in a range of different jobs to show that everyone with Down syndrome can contribute to their community and bring benefits to a business and the team.

On our social media platforms these stories have had a reach of over 200,000 and counting. 

See all of the success stories here: 

To celebrate World Down Syndrome Day, CoorDown launched the global awareness campaign Just the Two of Us, to promote the rights of people with Down syndrome to romantic and sexual relationships and receive correct and accessible information.

This year’s global campaign was again supported by Down Syndrome Australia and the Down's Syndrome Association (UK), with the patronage of Down Syndrome International.

View the campaign here: 

On World Down Syndrome Day our Health Ambassadors were featured in a video shown during Down Syndrome International’s 11th World Down Syndrome Day Conference at the United Nations in New York. 

Their video was featured to showcase what inclusion should look like in the healthcare system, and why inclusive communication is so important. 

Well done to the DSA Health Ambassador team for sharing your message on an international scale.   

You can find out more about the work of the Health Ambassadors here:   

As part of our employment project Right to Work, DSA has launched a new employment website page, where job seekers, employers and supporters can go to find support and valuable resources on how to get a job or information about placing a person with Down syndrome in an available role. 

Have a look at the new site here: 

Our Information SA team celebrated World Down Syndrome Day with the local community in Adelaide. Families came along for giant games, face painting and delicious ice cream.

It was wonderful to see families getting together and the children having lots of fun on the playground - the roundabout and water play was a great hit. We would love to see more families of older children and adults come along, so if you have suggestions on what you would like to see at an event, please email Sam, our Information Officer at infosa@downsyndrome.org.au.

Don't forget to follow the Information Service SA Facebook page.

At the end of March Health Ambassadors Olivia Sidhu and Rohan Fullwood worked with the Central and Eastern Sydney PHN on a webinar about how healthcare professionals can work with people with intellectual disability to improve health outcomes.

This webinar can be seen on the CESPHN YouTube channel here: 

In May there will be a federal election held. Australian citizens aged 18 years or older have a right to enrol to vote.

We have two new guides to help you get ready to vote.

The Australian Electoral Commission also has voting information in Easy Read on the AEC website.

In March the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability released a Commissioner’s report on Public Hearing 10: Education and training of health professionals in relation to people with cognitive disability.

Key findings in the Public Hearing 10 report include:

• Education providers do not have consistent curriculums when teaching students about how to provide care to people with cognitive disability.
• There are currently no specific requirements to teach health care students about how to provide safe and quality health care to people with cognitive disability. This means that courses vary in how much they teach students about cognitive disability health issues and not all health professionals develop appropriate skills in providing health care to people with cognitive disability.
• Clinical placements do not consistently prepare students with skills to provide care for patients with cognitive disabilities. Not all students have access to clinical experiences relevant to cognitive disability health.

The findings and recommendations will also inform current Australian Government initiatives including the implementation of the National Roadmap for Improving the Health of People with Intellectual Disability.

Read the report here:

Fievel Tong is a research student at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He is a parent of a child with Down syndrome, who is the inspiration for the research.

Fievel would love to hear your voice on the topic of further education (university and TAFE) for people with Down syndrome. Please contact Fievel (fievel.tong@student.uts.edu.au) to participate.

Find Easy Read information about this research here.