Because of an antiquated law, people with Down syndrome (DS) risk losing their medical coverage if they get a job.

As the leading human rights organization for people with DS, NDSS knows that DS doesn’t hold people back---antiquated laws do. With advocacy at its core, NDSS also knows how difficult it is to bring legislation to amend those laws to the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C.

So in addition to advocating for change, we decided to inspire change. We needed to demonstrate to lawmakers that those with DS are ready, willing, and able to work.

To do this, we opened the first restaurant run entirely by people with DS steps from where the new legislation needed to pass. We called the restaurant C21 after the 21st chromosome that makes them uniquely different, but doesn’t hold them back. We invited lawmakers and businesspeople to opening night where individuals with DS were bartenders, hosts, musical performers, servers, chefs, and speechmakers.

We captured the night with two short films and posted them on social media, YouTube, and our microsite to ensure opening night served as a launch and not a finale. The videos drove 1MM+ views with no paid media, and nearly every lawmaker was contacted through our texting platform and political widget resulting in advocacy and attention for our bill.

Two months later, The ABLE Act passed. This law allows hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities to earn money without jeopardizing Medicaid eligibility.

1) NDSS raised awareness of the outdated law.

We raised awareness while overturning preconceived notions of what people with Down syndrome can achieve. The NowThis video had 1MM views before the vote on the bill, ultimately earning 3.4MM views, 34K shares, and 23K reactions on Facebook.1

2) We inspired citizens to call nearly every single congressperson and demand change.

We turned active citizens into political advocates in every state. Between September and December 2017, 417 of 435 congressional representatives and all 100 senators were contacted via our platforms.2

3) The bill became law.

Two months after C21, the ABLE to Work Act and the ABLE Financial Planning Act were signed into law bringing people with DS one step closer to having equal rights.3 This is life-changing for hundreds of thousands of people.

In the weeks following the event, NDSS advocates went to the Hill armed with the C21 and NowThis videos. Our advocates attest to how crucial the videos were in securing co-sponsors of the bill and votes on the floor.

As of Q4 2018, 34,707 ABLE accounts have opened with $171.1MM saved.

4.) NDSS secured funding for more C21 restaurants.

A Voya Financial executive attended our dinner in Washington, D.C. and offered NDSS $100K in grant money to take C21 on the road to advocate for change to employment legislation and other laws still holding back people with DS. NDSS hired a full-time employee to manage C21 events, which have taken place in New York4, Atlanta5, New Orleans and Dallas.