A project under constant evolution

Ma parole doit compter is a constant work in progress, started in 2013 by the Trisomie 21 France association.

The aim? To help people with Down's Syndrome or an intellectual disability become self-representatives to speak out in public, talk about their disability and get their rights recognized.

To facilitate this work, Trisomie 21 France has offered the creation of a toolbox with :
- Advice sheets on the right attitudes to adopt when speaking in public, preparing a speech, etc.;
- Examples of public speaking;
- Graphic tools to support the speech.

It was for this last point that The Ink Link was contacted.

Co-construction

In July 2019, a first working seminar took place in Saint-Étienne with fifteen people or so, with Down's syndrome or intellectual disabilities.
For us, The Ink Link team, made up of 2 project managers and a designer, the aim is to define with the people:
- all the rights they want to talk about in public;
- the format of the tool;
- their graphic preferences.

We work with the Kaleidoscope association, in charge of drafting the advice sheets. The exchanges are very rich, and these self-representatives have a lot to share. We find out about their day-to-day problems, and their aspirations for more rights, whether in terms of access to work, autonomy or emotional life. The presence of a cartoonist during the meeting helps to enhance the group: we draw their portrait, sketch the different stages of the seminar... We reflect with them on the graphic style best suited to the project. They wanted a simple, clear-line, fairly realistic style. We decided to work with artist Simon Hureau.

Simon then began to draft a few cards on the rights we had listed. The following seminar, a few months later, enabled Simon to meet people with Down's syndrome, and to see how they appropriated the cards.

In particular, we wanted to test the more conceptual representations, such as the much more chaotic path taken by people with Down's syndrome. Depending on the person, these notions may be easier or harder to grasp, but we've decided to keep them so that everyone can have access to the material they need.

Simon also produces portraits of the participants, which will be used for future communications. During the seminar, speaking simulations are organized, and the participants take to the first cards with ease: we're on the right track!

Back at his workshop, Simon achieves the cards. Several formats will be made available to users, to be printed out or used in presentations.

Today, the project continues thanks to the initiative of 13 of these self-representatives, who have set themselves the goal of :
- spread their know-how across the country, sharing their expertise by training all those who, in turn, want to be able to speak out to make society and employment more inclusive;
- to run awareness-raising campaigns in companies and with any other interested parties (universities, doctors, leisure and cultural centers, etc.).