Woman with Down syndrome outlines discrimination in powerful TikTok

Charlotte Woodward is a woman with Down syndrome. She also works as a community outreach associate for the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS). So, as she explained to In The Know, the issues she discussed in her now-viral video were “very personal”. The clip details the institutional discrimination that people with Down syndrome face throughout their lives. “Things about having Down syndrome that don’t make sense,” Woodward says at the start of the clip. She then goes on to give several examples. The first of those: being paid sub-minimum wage. Another issue? Penalties for getting married . As Woodward points out in the clip, people with Down syndrome can lose eligibility for government benefits (like Medicaid) if they have a spouse. Woodward’s video, which now has more than 2.8 million views, spawned hundreds of comments reacting to the “appalling” info. “I didn’t know any of this. Thank you for spreading awareness,” one commenter wrote. Woodward, meanwhile, said the experience of going viral has been “mind-blowing”