I love Kit Harington for many reasons.

He’s obscenely good looking.

He’s British, and who doesn’t love an accent?

He doesn’t use social media. You won’t see this man hanging about the internets… Well, except when we’re all writing about him.

Game of Thrones. I don’t even NEED to continue.

But now I have reason to love him that little bit more.

Kit spoke yesterday about the close friendship he shares with his cousin, Laurent, who has Down syndrome.

“My cousin Laurent and I are similar ages and grew up together sharing many things, the same sense of humour and the same passion for film and theatre being chief among them.”‘

“We had a wonderful loving upbringing in the same family and had a great time growing up, many times under the same roof and became close friends as well as cousins. My only major difference with Laurent is that he has Down’s syndrome. “

The UK charity Mencap supported Laurent when he was younger, and Kit has jumped on board their campaign.

“My cousin is one of 1.4 million people in the UK that has a learning disability. From spending time with Laurent and Mencap, and being witness to the work they have done together, I know there is still a long way to go before people with a learning disability are treated as equals in our society. From finding it harder to get into work, being victims of hate crime, or receiving poorer quality of healthcare, society has a responsibility to help remove these challenges.”

“Many of the obstacles like these that my cousin faces are due to people feeling uncomfortable around disability and afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing and therefore ignoring and turning a blind eye to these issues. Whilst this is in some ways understandable, it is also ridiculous.”

“Learning Disability Week is the perfect opportunity to challenge this. We need to give people a far greater awareness and understanding of what learning disability means. That’s exactly what Mencap wants to achieve with this years learning disability week and why I’m asking as many people as possible to get involved.”

What can YOU do, globally? You can learn a little more about Down syndrome in 2015, how it’s changed over the years, and share what you know in comments below.

You can follow my son Parker, on Facebook. You’ll learn about what it’s like to raise a child with an extra chromosome, and meet some inspiring people with Down syndrome from all over the world, along the way.

You can visit Mencap and learn about their campaign.

Or, you can share this article on social media, so everyone can hear Kit’s plea. “Society has a responsibility to help remove these challenges.”