Olivia Wilde‘s PSA for people with Down syndrome will give you goosebumps as you watch the actress live her life while a woman with Down syndrome speaks about how she sees herself.
“Vinyl” cinematographer Reed Morano used the actress to show what it’s like to sing, run, and be a daughter, and to show that she is an “ordinary person, with an important, meaningful, beautiful life.”
“I see myself singing, dancing and laughing until I cannot breathe,” says the voiceover. “And also crying sometimes. I see myself following my dreams even if they are impossible.”
The camera then pans from Wilde’s reflection in the mirror to AnnaRose Rubright, a 19-year-old woman with Down syndrome.
“This is how I see myself,” Rubright asks the camera. “How do you see me?”
In an interview with the Washington Post, Rubright said the commercial reflected something she has suffered her entire life — feeling like she wasn’t “regular.”
“It makes me feel sad and disappointed,” she said. “I’m not treated with respect and I’m not treated as if I’m important.”
According to the Post, there are an estimated 400,000 people living with Down syndrome in the United States. The advertisement was put together by the organization Coordown.
See the video below.