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Category
Sustainable Development Goals
Annual ID
OS25_SD004M
Background
As people with Down syndrome make their way into adulthood, employment is important in building independence and a sense of dignity. Being employed means much more than earning an income; it means learning new skills, the opportunity to build lasting connections with others, improved self-confidence, a sense of self-worth, and the list goes on.1
Despite how valuable employment can be, many individuals with Down syndrome are still largely excluded from the workforce. Employers across North America are unaware of this untapped resource, let alone where to find them.
The ambition of the Canadian Down Syndrome Society is to empower the Down syndrome community by closing the gaps in support, information, and resources that make life more challenging for people with Down syndrome.
As people with Down syndrome become adults, employment is an important part of reaching full or partial independence. Despite this, many individuals are still largely excluded from the workforce. Employers are unaware of this untapped resource, let alone where to find them.
Despite how valuable employment can be, many individuals with Down syndrome are still largely excluded from the workforce. Employers across North America are unaware of this untapped resource, let alone where to find them. Our target was both prospective employers and ready-to-work individuals with Down syndrome.
This presented CDSS with an opportunity to solve the employment gap by:
Creating a space for prospective employers to recruit the community.
Inspiring individuals with Down syndrome to join our movement to close the
employment gap.
Raising awareness about the community’s ability to contribute to the workforce.
1) https://bit.ly/43c1kHd
Despite how valuable employment can be, many individuals with Down syndrome are still largely excluded from the workforce. Employers across North America are unaware of this untapped resource, let alone where to find them.
The ambition of the Canadian Down Syndrome Society is to empower the Down syndrome community by closing the gaps in support, information, and resources that make life more challenging for people with Down syndrome.
As people with Down syndrome become adults, employment is an important part of reaching full or partial independence. Despite this, many individuals are still largely excluded from the workforce. Employers are unaware of this untapped resource, let alone where to find them.
Despite how valuable employment can be, many individuals with Down syndrome are still largely excluded from the workforce. Employers across North America are unaware of this untapped resource, let alone where to find them. Our target was both prospective employers and ready-to-work individuals with Down syndrome.
This presented CDSS with an opportunity to solve the employment gap by:
Creating a space for prospective employers to recruit the community.
Inspiring individuals with Down syndrome to join our movement to close the
employment gap.
Raising awareness about the community’s ability to contribute to the workforce.
1) https://bit.ly/43c1kHd
Creative Idea
Knowing we had to create a first-of-its-kind employment hub for candidates with Down syndrome, we naturally pursued a partnership with the best-in-class platform for fostering a professional network. Introducing inployable: the first-ever employment network for people with Down syndrome on LinkedIn.
Prior to the official campaign launch, CDSS released hyper-targeted social posts for the Down syndrome community, calling on ready-to-work individuals to join inployable. Those looking for work were able to fill out a brief form on inployable.com, including their LinkedIn profile. If they didn't have a profile, a LinkedIn coach helped them build one. Next, job seekers are added to inployable's network—basically a company page on LinkedIn—where potential employers could find them.
The campaign launched to the public during Canadian Down Syndrome Week, via a provocative long-form video featuring a cast from the Down syndrome community advocating for their right to work. The video showcases “inployable” individuals sharing their thoughts on how the current hiring system values their resumes: overlooked, underrepresented, and not worth the paper they’re printed on. They are then shown provocatively destroying their resumes with the help of chainsaws, liquid nitrogen, and a woodchipper, to make way for a new and better way of hiring: inployable.
The launch video featured a call to action for both employees and employers to visit the hub and discover opportunities to connect. Due to a limited media budget, we pushed the work out through social media, primarily on LinkedIn, as well as through PR and community advocacy groups associated with CDSS. The campaign was also supplemented with video content on the inployable page, featuring our Down syndrome cast explaining how the platform works and how to get the most out of the experience.
Prior to the official campaign launch, CDSS released hyper-targeted social posts for the Down syndrome community, calling on ready-to-work individuals to join inployable. Those looking for work were able to fill out a brief form on inployable.com, including their LinkedIn profile. If they didn't have a profile, a LinkedIn coach helped them build one. Next, job seekers are added to inployable's network—basically a company page on LinkedIn—where potential employers could find them.
The campaign launched to the public during Canadian Down Syndrome Week, via a provocative long-form video featuring a cast from the Down syndrome community advocating for their right to work. The video showcases “inployable” individuals sharing their thoughts on how the current hiring system values their resumes: overlooked, underrepresented, and not worth the paper they’re printed on. They are then shown provocatively destroying their resumes with the help of chainsaws, liquid nitrogen, and a woodchipper, to make way for a new and better way of hiring: inployable.
The launch video featured a call to action for both employees and employers to visit the hub and discover opportunities to connect. Due to a limited media budget, we pushed the work out through social media, primarily on LinkedIn, as well as through PR and community advocacy groups associated with CDSS. The campaign was also supplemented with video content on the inployable page, featuring our Down syndrome cast explaining how the platform works and how to get the most out of the experience.
Insights & Strategy
North America is facing a historic labour shortage—with over 6.8 million open jobs—and employers are in desperate need of hard-working and reliable employees.1 Despite this, over 50% of people with Down syndrome struggle to find meaningful, paid employment.2 Individuals with Down syndrome have been victim to outdated stereotypes and misconceptions about their capabilities, which ultimately has led to their community being ignored by potential employers. Their abilities in the workplace are underestimated, despite the community having a long-standing history of being valuable contributors in a variety of different sectors. They have been known for bringing a unique skill set to the workplace including loyalty, dedication, attention to detail, and a contribution to culture, among many others.3
Our insight was discovered through desktop research, collaboration with the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, and engaging with the community itself.
To solve the employment gap in the Down syndrome community, we needed to make it easy for employers to find and hire the right applicants while challenging the long-standing stereotypes that exist about employees with Down syndrome.
In addition to misconceptions about their contributions, employers that are open to hiring people with intellectual disabilities remain uninformed about how to connect with these candidates. From recruitment to training, our research found that employers were in desperate need of information, resources, and a designated place to connect and recruit.
Recognizing that employers look to LinkedIn, we knew that's where we needed to be to ensure discoverability of these individuals in moments employers need them most. For both our targets (employers and ready-to-work individuals), the call to action was to visit our website to get involved; we needed to create a space where people with Down syndrome could market themselves.
1) https://bit.ly/4ihl7cz
2) https://bit.ly/4dcnUSP
3) https://bit.ly/43c1kHd
Our insight was discovered through desktop research, collaboration with the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, and engaging with the community itself.
To solve the employment gap in the Down syndrome community, we needed to make it easy for employers to find and hire the right applicants while challenging the long-standing stereotypes that exist about employees with Down syndrome.
In addition to misconceptions about their contributions, employers that are open to hiring people with intellectual disabilities remain uninformed about how to connect with these candidates. From recruitment to training, our research found that employers were in desperate need of information, resources, and a designated place to connect and recruit.
Recognizing that employers look to LinkedIn, we knew that's where we needed to be to ensure discoverability of these individuals in moments employers need them most. For both our targets (employers and ready-to-work individuals), the call to action was to visit our website to get involved; we needed to create a space where people with Down syndrome could market themselves.
1) https://bit.ly/4ihl7cz
2) https://bit.ly/4dcnUSP
3) https://bit.ly/43c1kHd
Execution
Due to the complexities of both the problem and solution, there were a number of campaign elements that led to our success:
Destination site - https://inployable.com/
Upon visiting our destination site, individuals with Down syndrome who were looking for work, were connected with LinkedIn coaches. These coaches were a live resource to help the community set up their profiles, add their unique skills, and ensure their profiles were discoverable for prospective employers.
Campaign hub - https://www.linkedin.com/company
We hacked LinkedIn’s very own platform by creating the first-ever company page where every single employee is open to work. When setting up their profile, individuals with Down syndrome would add themselves as an employee at inployable where prospective employees could then discover those potential employees through the people tab.
User Experience:
Many people with Down syndrome looking for work have previously experienced bias and exclusion from the workforce. Since LinkedIn typically favours traditional workplace experience, we needed to do something to ensure individuals with Down syndrome had proper exposure within the platform despite a lack of previous job history. To shine a light on their unique and overlooked abilities, we worked closely with LinkedIn to add over 25 skills to the platform (e.g., repetition oriented, routine oriented, repetitive data entry, inventory skills, etc.) This enabled us to accurately represent the strengths of the community and make them more discoverable for open jobs on LinkedIn.
For prospective employers, we made it easy to discover potential employees and to access inclusive workforce resources and content within the network. We offered employees resources on things like training processes, inclusive hiring, and interview adaptations to ensure they were set up for success when hiring an individual from the Down syndrome community.
Destination site - https://inployable.com/
Upon visiting our destination site, individuals with Down syndrome who were looking for work, were connected with LinkedIn coaches. These coaches were a live resource to help the community set up their profiles, add their unique skills, and ensure their profiles were discoverable for prospective employers.
Campaign hub - https://www.linkedin.com/company
We hacked LinkedIn’s very own platform by creating the first-ever company page where every single employee is open to work. When setting up their profile, individuals with Down syndrome would add themselves as an employee at inployable where prospective employees could then discover those potential employees through the people tab.
User Experience:
Many people with Down syndrome looking for work have previously experienced bias and exclusion from the workforce. Since LinkedIn typically favours traditional workplace experience, we needed to do something to ensure individuals with Down syndrome had proper exposure within the platform despite a lack of previous job history. To shine a light on their unique and overlooked abilities, we worked closely with LinkedIn to add over 25 skills to the platform (e.g., repetition oriented, routine oriented, repetitive data entry, inventory skills, etc.) This enabled us to accurately represent the strengths of the community and make them more discoverable for open jobs on LinkedIn.
For prospective employers, we made it easy to discover potential employees and to access inclusive workforce resources and content within the network. We offered employees resources on things like training processes, inclusive hiring, and interview adaptations to ensure they were set up for success when hiring an individual from the Down syndrome community.
Results
Since launching, inployable has seen incredible success. As a small Canadian charity, budgets and resources were slim, but inployable achieved the following:
Created a space for connection:
700+ companies followed our page within the first 2 months
The companies were from 164 different industries
91% of our followers work directly in HR
“inployable is one of the fastest growing company pages on LinkedIn”
Sean McConnell, LinkedIn Business Development Lead
Inspired individuals with Down syndrome to join the movement:
17% of inployable candidates have already been hired, getting us closer to our goal of zero candidates unemployed
Raised awareness about the community’s ability to contribute to the workforce:
We achieved 149,000,000+ impressions for the campaign and based on our $7,500 in PR and media support, this equates to 19.867 impressions per $ spent. Not too bad.
Created a space for connection:
700+ companies followed our page within the first 2 months
The companies were from 164 different industries
91% of our followers work directly in HR
“inployable is one of the fastest growing company pages on LinkedIn”
Sean McConnell, LinkedIn Business Development Lead
Inspired individuals with Down syndrome to join the movement:
17% of inployable candidates have already been hired, getting us closer to our goal of zero candidates unemployed
Raised awareness about the community’s ability to contribute to the workforce:
We achieved 149,000,000+ impressions for the campaign and based on our $7,500 in PR and media support, this equates to 19.867 impressions per $ spent. Not too bad.
2025 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit
Credits
Agency
FCB Canada / Toronto
PR / Marketing Agency
Glossy
Client / Brand
Canadian Down Syndrome Society
Production Company
Suneeva
Art Director
Sally Fung
Brad Wilson
Associate Creative Director
Sally Fung
Sara Radovanovich
Chief Creative Officer
Nancy Crimi-Lamanna
Chief Strategy Officer
Shelley Brown
Copywriter
Sara Radovanovich
Director
Mark Domitric
Jason Van Bruggen
Director of Photography
Stuart Cameron
Editor
Liam Crawford
Executive Creative Director
Andrew MacPhee
Music Supervisor
Rich Hamilton
Strategist
Audrey Zink
Agency Producer
Dan Rankin
EVP, Global Creative Partner
Danilo Boer
Executive Producer
Amanda Henry
Geoff Cornish
Emily Goldberg
Executive Producer, Post Production
Elise Beauvais
1st AC
Alex Dametto
1st AD
Conor O'Brien
2nd AC
Dorian Findlay
2nd Electric
Kristoff Gallimore
3rd Electric
Peter Rotundo
Account Supervisor
Sophie Seidelin
Audio House
Grayson Music
Audio Producer
Sharon Yokoyama
Board Member
Ben Tarr
Chair
Ed Casagrande
Colourist
Conor Fisher
Community Manager
Serena Luca
Craft
Paul Michon
Director/DP
Julian Peter
DIT/VTR
Dal Bridge
Editing House
Married To Giants
Editor, Social
Tyler Strahl
Engineer
Brian Bernard
Fire Safety
Al Sutton
Gaffer
Kay Grospe
Group Account Director
Blake Connolly
HMU Artist
Cathay Ann Cuthbert
Interim Executive Director
Laura LaChance
Key Grip
Rico Joyce
Line Producer/PM
Joey Bilewicz
Marketing & Communications Manager
Courtney Cassel
Kristen Halpen
Medic
Michael Petcu
Online/VFX
Wingman
Owner
Shannon Stephaniuk
PA
Ahmed Chewai
Alec Whittal
Molly West
Nikki Cupid
Phantom Tech
Lanny Bolger
PKG Truck
Steve Couto
Production Artist
Joey Ng
Mark Parenteau
Production Manager
Jennifer Cachola
Project Manager
Hani Adam
Proofreader
Melanie DaSilva Pinto
Zohrin Jivraj
Quality Assurance
Kim Cheung-Quenneville
Retoucher
Carly Bright
Marcelle Faucher
Script Supervisor
Patricia Homonylo
Senior Manager Fund Development & Donor Management
Pamela Massaro
Set Dresser
Greg Goldsack
Sound
Marco Furgiuele
Sound Op
Nathan Street Toronto Sound
Special thank you
William F Whites
SPFX Coordinator
Darcy Callaghan
VFX/Online Artist
Jonny Ames
VP, Managing Director
Tim Welsh
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