Wigan family hopes festive music video will change perceptions of Down's syndrome

Oscar and his family heading to London to record the music video

Victoria Morrisey and Bryn Rimmer, along with their sons Oscar, six, and Rio, four, are among the families appearing in the video being launched on ITV’s This Morning today.

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They travelled to ITV Studios in London last week and were filmed singing and using Makaton sign language to Michael Buble’s All I Want For Christmas.

Miss Morrisey said: “We went to London and met quite a few other families there. We signed two verses of the Christmas song. They had us filming walking in and out of the room and doing different scenes.”

The Pemberton family has not seen the final video - which includes celebrities and other families - and are looking forward to watching it today.

Miss Morrisey said: “We can’t wait to see it. All our friends will be tuning in.”

People are being encouraged to share the video on social media in a bid to get it seen by a larger audience.

Miss Morrisey said: “They are pushing for it to be in the charts for Christmas number one. It would be crazy. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind. It’s happened so fast. It’s a bit emotional.”

The family is supporting Wouldn’t Change A Thing, a group working to change people’s views of Down’s syndrome.

Miss Morrisey said there was a negative perception of the condition when Oscar was diagnosed, but she has always been positive about it.

“The stigma that comes with Down’s syndrome isn’t how it used to be at all. Oscar goes to mainstream school and there’s nothing we have come across that he cannot do, it might just take him a little bit longer,” she said.

“The group thinks exactly the same way as me. They are all about raising positive awareness.”

Oscar appears in a 2019 calendar for Wouldn’t Change A Thing, which features children with Down’s syndrome.

Also pictured in the calendar is five-year-old Bethany Parr, from Leigh, who previously took part in a Carpool Karaoke-style viral video for the organisation which was supported by This Morning.