John’s Crazy Socks founders speak at UN

The father and son team behind Farmingdale-based John’s Crazy Socks spoke at the United Nations Tuesday on World Down Syndrome Day.

Serving as speakers and moderators at conference at the UN, John Cronin and his father Mark Cronin, shared insights about inclusion and highlighting what people with differing abilities can accomplish.

“I loved speaking at the United Nations,” John Cronin said in a statement about the conference. “I spoke to people from around the world and met many amazing self-advocates.”

The father-and-son duo spoke during 12th World Down Syndrome Day Conference sponsored by the United Nations and Down Syndrome International.

This was the second time that the father-and-son team have spoken at the UN. They previously spoke at a conference on entrepreneurism and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

During this week’s conference, John introduced a session about supported decision-making.

“Supported decision-making is when people with Down syndrome are helped in making decisions about their lives,” he said. “But I make my own decisions. It is my life.”

Mark Cronin spoke in a session about good communications.

“We shared our experiences from John’s Crazy Socks, where more than half our colleagues have a differing ability,” he said in a statement. “We showed how ensuring that we can communicate with our colleagues with differing abilities benefits our whole business. This is in keeping with the larger lesson that hiring people with differing abilities is not altruism, it is good business.”

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