Petition Asks Disney To Include Kids With Down Syndrome In Animated Films
BURBANK (CBSLA.com) — Activists are calling on Disney executives to represent children with Down syndrome and other disabilities in its animated films.
More than 75,000 people have signed a San Francisco family's petition asking Disney to help fight stigma and discrimination against people with disabilities by representing them in their films.
Keston Ott-Dahl hand-delivered a copy of the the Care2 petition to Disney headquarters in Burbank Wednesday, along with her partner Andrea, their 6-year-old daughter Jules, and their 15-month-old daughter Delaney, who has Down syndrome.
The petition calls upon to the studio to add characters more like Delaney to future projects "not to make a movie about Down syndrome but just to make it incidental that a character, hero or heroine, has Down syndrome," said Ott-Dahl.
In response to the petition, a Disney spokesperson said the studio is "committed to continuing to create characters that are accessible and relatable to all children."