PRIDE in their girls has led two Wath mums to be part of a viral video sensation.
Melissa Lockwood and Rachel Blencome are part of Facebook group Designer Genes, created for parents who have a child with Down Syndrome born in 2013 and 2014.
When one of the group spotted a Singing Hands carpool karaoke video signed with Makaton, a simplified form of British sign language, they saw an opportunity to make a special moment to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day last week.
Soundtracked to Christina Perri’s song A Thousand Years, the three-minute video sees 50 mums and 50 children - including Melissa and daughter Francesca and Rachel and daughter Amelia - sign along to the track while in their cars, in the style of comedian James Corden’s popular carpool karaoke videos.
In an attempt to avoid copyright issues, the group contacted Christina Perri and her husband Paul Costabile on Twitter.
Within an hour, the LA-based couple declared support for the idea, committed their multi-million social media following and waived any copyright claim to the music.
Since then, celebrities including James Corden himself have voiced their support for the clip.
And Rachel has even appeared on This Morning to promote their message of inclusivity and understanding.
Melissa, from Goldfinch Court, said: “It is brilliant. Originally we were going to edit out moments like where one child grabs a packet or a boy pinches his mum’s face, but we left them in because we wanted it to show life as it is.
“We wanted to do something because there has been so much recently to do with screening out and the problems associated with Down Syndrome. And there are health problems but not everyone has them. As far as we are concerned our children are just like any other four-year-old, just with slightly less speech.
“The response has been unreal. I’ve been doing interviews about it and at play group one of the dads said he had spotted us in it.
“James Corden tweeted it, Christina Perri did too and Dawn French. The highlight for me was the Chuckle Brothers, who tweeted about it from one of my tweets. It has been amazing.”
The video is called 50 Mums | 50 Kids | 1 Extra Chromosome and seeks to popularise the social media hashtag #wouldntchangeathing. See the video here.
