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A Canadian father took to Facebook to advocate for his son, who is diagnosed with Down syndrome, in an emotional five-minute video that has struck a chord online.

His video, since it was posted Feb. 20, asks people to look beyond the diagnosis and see the beauty and joy of the individual.

鈥淚鈥檓 just making this video because I feel like I need to karmically reset what just happened,鈥� says Robb Scott of Nova Scotia, Canada.

He tells about overhearing a boy ask his father a question, "What is Down syndrome?" The father, in reply called it an illness 鈥� a moment that Mr. Scott said was deeply saddening. His own 5-year-old son, Turner, has the genetic disorder.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think his dad was trying to be mean,鈥� he goes on in the tearful video. 鈥淚 can see he was searching for the right thing to say, and he said it was an illness... of not knowing anything.鈥�

鈥淸It was] one of those moments where you don鈥檛 know how to act, you don鈥檛 know how to react. I didn't say anything,鈥� Scott says. 鈥淏ut I heard that voice in my head say, 鈥楾ell him what it is,鈥� and I didn鈥檛. I let that ignorance grow in another generation 鈥� and failed my son in the process.鈥�

In an interview with ABC, Scott explained that it was because the boy who had asked the question could have been educated about the issue in a way that doesn鈥檛 stigmatize Down syndrome.

"He asked it in the most honest, sincere way. He was a blank slate,鈥� he said of the boy. "I let him understand it for something it wasn't. I let his father define it for him and that hit me hard. This was a child, a child that's my son's age and I could've corrected him, not in a rude way, and I didn't."

Scott shot the video in his car immediately upon leaving the store, to "reset" the moment and answer the child's question:聽鈥淒own syndrome is literally one of the most beautiful things that鈥檚 ever happened to my life. It鈥檚 fun, it鈥檚 brilliant, it鈥檚 amazing, it鈥檚 funny, it鈥檚 kind, it鈥檚 loving, it鈥檚 cuddly.鈥�

Scott wants the world to know that his son, and others like him, have just as much to offer as their typically developing peers.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e great teachers, people with Down syndrome,鈥� Scott said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not an illness. It's not an illness. It is not even a disability.鈥�

He continued, "I believe people are teachers and learners. We're both. We have the ability to teach things, and we're here to learn things. A well-educated man does not have more to teach than my son. He has different things to teach, but he does not have more to teach."