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Awareness campaign DOWN TO EARTH ROAD has started!

Adem Colak who has a brother with Down Syndrome and is one of the volunteers of our EDSA member, the turkish DS Association, is also a passionate motorbike driver. He will drive from Istanbul to North Cape and back, visiting 25 countries and will use this trip for an awareness campaign. You can find the whole route at the bottom of the page. His trip takes almost 80 days.

Social Media accounts will be:

Facebook: DownToEarthRoad
Instagram: downtoearthroad
Twitter: DownToEarthRoad

Contact: Fulya Ekmen: fulya@downturkiye.com

Visit the website in English: www.downturkiye.org/downtoearthroad

A map of Europe showing the route and the countries Adem is going to visit.

These are the planned activities:

  1. We will plan meetings with people with Down syndrome of all ages and their families. (We need your support here)
  2. Announcements will be made to reach out to local motorbike drivers (or other drivers of any sort) to join his trip to accompany him for short spells, and we will ask them to share their photos and videos using the hashtag #Downtoearthroad or send to us for sharing. (We need your support here)
  3. He will put stickers of the project at the places he stops at such as restaurants, hotels, etc.
  4. He will take photos and short videos and ask 5 questions for videos.
  5. We will share the anecdotes daily and will make a social media campaign as well as informing the national press and trying to get their attention. (You can do the same while he is in your country, you can even make a build up campaign since we will be following his journey)
  6. At the end of the route, we will produce a short movie clip covering the trip. We thought that we can share that movie also in EU parliament in March.
  7. We will continue the momentum until next year when he will make another trip to Asia. Meanwhile we keep motivating people to meet with people with Down Syndrome on their route and share with us whole year. In general it is a year long project that starts with a trip to west and finished with a trip to the east.

What do we want from members?

If you are on the route:

  1. Organizing a meeting with Adem and 1-2 people with Down syndrome? We prefer the ones who have a good story behind, for example a married couple, an employee, a student in integration, an adult who lives with his friends or a self advocate. If possible, we prefer meeting in their home or his/her workplace but if not possible, it can be at your association.
  2. Translating questions and answers from your language to English during that meeting.
  3. Taking part in media campaign and re-posting our posts about the project by your social media accounts
  4. Can you provide accomodation for Adem?
  5. We may ask some additional logistic help if needed during the trip.
  6. We will send the logo of the project to you, please put your own association’s logo in the marked area on the design of project logo and print it as a sticker as much as you want. Please give some of them to ADEM and he can put stickers at the places he stops at such as restaurants, hotels, etc.
  7. Please make a note for the people with Down Syndrome on the next stop, telling your wishes for them. And give it to ADEM. In that way we can make a good wishes chain between countries.

If you are not on the route:

Not all members are on his route. But even if you are not on the route you can still support the project.

  1. Please follow our social media accounts and share our posts with your community.
  2. Motivate people in your country to meet with people with Down Syndrome when they are on the road for a trip and share with us whole year with #Downtoearthroad.

Questions for Videos: If have any suggestions about these questions feel free.

  1. What is your name & what do you do? (Work, school etc)
  2. What makes you happy?
  3. What makes you sad?
  4. What is your expectation for the future?
  5. What do you want from your government/ EU parliament?

These questions can be adapted to the participant level. A child will not be able to answer nr. 5 for example, but he can say “I want to go to school with my friends”. So you will need to adapt as necessary.

First part of campaign starts 30th of August and ends in 80 days but it will continue during 2018 in different ways as I mentioned above.

Countries on Adem’s route: (Arrival and leaving dates are estimated dates. They may vary by road and weather conditions. Therefore we will keep in touch with you during the trip)

List of countries and cities Adem is going to visit on his trip.

List with countries plus dates of arrival and leaving

The main concept of the project is to create awareness and motivate others to meet with people with Down Syndrome . Therefore we ask from everybody: “If you are planning a trip for anytime to anywhere, please try to find someone with Down Syndrome on the road and talk with him/her and share your anecdotes and photos with the world by #Downtoearthroad.”