The acceptance of those with special needs, like those with Down Syndrome, as an example, is a significant topic in the world today. While legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) had worked to ensure that these individuals have equal access to education, employment and housing, among other rights, legislation alone cannot alter how these individuals are viewed. As a result, there is a remaining need to educate people and to generate acceptance of these differences among the public.
Situational Analysis
Currently, there are a number of foundations funding the public campaign to increase awareness and acceptance of those with disabilities. According to the World Health Organization and estimated 1 in 1,000 live births are to children with Down Syndrome, specifically, and as much as 2.5% of the total population has some form of deficit, or disability to overcome (WHO 1). The makers of at least on recent PSA regarding the acceptance of those with Down Syndrome note that while we have “come a long way” in terms of understanding the condition and what it means to those who have it, there is still a long way to go. As a result, it is still common for ad campaigns to be held, in order to draw attention to those that are born with the conditions, and their expectations for life, as well as the acceptance they seek from others. One such recent campaign, was released as a part of a World Down Syndrome Day Campaign is designed purely to raise awareness of the current situation and to force viewers to reconsider their current perception of those with mental deficits, or disabilities.
Target Audience Research
The target audience for the campaigns and movements of the disabilities and deficits support groups are members of the public who see those with disabilities as different from everyone else, or perhaps more significantly as less of a person than someone who does not have disabilities. Even after the years of legislation and community outreach that encourage equal education, employment and lifestyle related right for those with mental disabilities, many still elect to treat those who are disabled as children, or as less human, than those without disabilities. People believe they are less capable, less emotional, and less worthy of love and attention than people who are more average. Moreover, groups that are least well educated about those with disabilities believe that they should be institutionalized rather than accepted because they will never be able to lead a normal life. As such, the target audience is any individual who would discriminate against an individual, or look down on an individual because of their disabilities.
Measurements and Evaluation Mechanism
The success of the campaign and movement can be measured by the number of people who actively reconsider how they view those with disabilities as a direct result of viewing the ad campaign. It should be measured by how many people are persuaded and accept the normalcy of those with disabilities. This can be measured by determining whether or not there is a decrease in the number of groups, or individuals who believe that those with a disability are inferior. These changes must be measured over time, as social trends change and can be seen in the public arena, or can be tested by the response to a survey, asking for details about how a single, specific PSA has altered perception of the situation overall.
Overarching Persuasion Strategy
When considering the most recent Down Syndrome Day public campaign, which actively stared Olivia Wilde as an adult individual with Down Syndrome, the overarching persuasion strategy of the campaign was to demonstrate how individuals with disabilities see themselves. It stressed that the disabled individual feels like a normal person, or a person that is like everyone else. This means that the individual has hopes, dreams, aspirations, weakness, and feelings that excited by, and crushed by the same inspirations and barriers that impact those without disabilities. It challenges the viewer to view the disabled as just another person, capable of all the same life goals as those without the disability. Further it points out that on the inside those with Down syndrome have the same feelings, hopes dreams and insecurities as everyone else. In essence, the campaign uses emotional appeal and a kind of everyman approach to reduce the gap between those with disabilities and their non-disabled peers. This emotional appeal is effective, and attractive, though many nay-sayers have said that the specific tactics used in the most recent campaign, by placing a non-disabled actress at the forefront of the images, and having Oliva Wilde play the primary disabled character only further silences and ostracizes the disabled community by making them invisible in a campaign designed to empower them (Ladau 1).
Specific Communications Tactics
While PSAs and awareness campaigns of this kind once relied primarily on televised ads to increase visibility and awareness, today, modern news outlets, like online news providers and social media are at the forefront of gaining public attention. Individuals who still discriminate against the disabled are unlikely to sit and read a news article about the rights of disabled persons, but are more likely to watch a viral video that is getting attention from peers online, and which has been shared many times. Bearing this in mind, using a popular actress, who has a strong media presence as the main face of the campaign is likely to reach those who are least likely to hear the message otherwise, and is significantly more likely to gain an online following than the same commercial when featuring a disabled actress (Edwards 1). Frequent exposure to the idea that all disabled persons are equal, capable, and important can over time sway the thinking of those that still treat the disabled as different, making them social pariahs.
Despite the fact that the America with disabilities act has been effectively limiting the discriminatory of educators and employers for decades, there is still a marked social stigma effecting those with disabilities. As such, there remains a number of ongoing public campaigns focused on helping members of the public who are biased against those with disabilities view them as equal members of society, or as social peers. One excellent example of this is the Down Syndrome Week campaign designed to increase awareness, and to present the speaker, who has Down Syndrome as having the same hopes and fears as everyone else, and stressing the way they seem themselves as just another person, and encourage the listener to do the same. It can, however, be more powerful over time if it finds ways to give those who are disabled their own voice, and a more significant presence in the campaigns that are designed to support them and increase acceptance of their unique differences as individuals.
Works Cited
Edwards, Jess. “Why Olivia Wilde's Down Syndrome awareness video is splitting opinion”. Cosmopolitan. 2016, March 21. Web.
Ladau, E. “Olivia Wilde’s Down Syndrome PSA Gets It So Wrong” The Daily Beast. 2016, March 20. Web.
WHO. Genes and Chromosomal Diseases. Genomic Resource Center. 2016 Web.
