James Taylor, director of strategy, impact and social change at disability equality charity Scope explains how media campaigns from within the sector can effectively represent disabilities

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Scope has a proud 70-year history of challenging negative attitudes towards disability. And we’ve trialed many approaches over the years.

From the humorous and cheeky ‘End the Awkward’ campaign, to our hard hitting ‘Time to Get Equal’ Campaign way back in 2004 backed by Nelson Mandela.

And while we have come a long way, unfortunately negative attitudes towards disability persist. Last year, a survey we conducted on attitudes faced by disabled people found that three in four disabled people have experienced negative attitudes and behaviour from others.

From the judgement of others about what disabled people are capable of, to the constant questioning and having to justify yourself, to full-on confrontation, discrimination and physical abuse.

“You don’t look disabled”

“When I went to the pub people looked at me. And started taking the mickey out of me, making me feel worthless and alone. I didn’t socialise for a while because of how it made me feel.”

These are just some of the things disabled people told us.

At Scope we’re committed to ending negative attitudes towards disabled people and disability and removing the barriers so many of us face.

A huge part of how we need to go about doing this is understanding what messages and what language works and doesn’t work in improving attitudes.

So, we partnered with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) to run the biggest ever study into the best routes to shift attitudes through communication.

Meticulously testing seven different types of messaging randomly with over 5000 members of the public, we have lifted the lid on what works best to improve attitudes and perceptions of disability and disabled people.

We are sharing the findings with everyone and want to work with anyone – whether you’re a charity, marketing agency or media company – to put these findings into practice and shift the narrative on disability.

What works

It’s perhaps no surprise that sharing stories and personal experiences is the most successful route to shift attitudes. Storytelling is the backbone of all media campaigns and works to persuade and create an emotional connection with an audience.

However, if you tell the story of a disabled person, you need to check the narrative to make sure it doesn’t result in a negative perception of disability. The focus shouldn’t be about an inspirational ‘overcoming’ of disability, or how it’s unfortunate that they’re disabled. Instead, you should create storylines that involve representative characters who are complex and multifaceted in their own right.

One way to make this more authentic and inclusive is by coproducing campaigns with disabled people right from the start. By bringing in disabled people to discuss a campaign, you have a rich source of lived experience and insight on how people want to be presented.

If you’re setting up a photo or video shoot, then tap into the wealth of disabled talent in the creative industry. Make a choice to hire disabled directors, actors, producers, and models. Effective representation can really make a difference in the depth of your storytelling.

What didn’t work

As charities, using facts and figures to explain a situation is often our bread and butter and default position. But when thinking about how to shift attitudes to disability, we need to be really careful when using facts and numbers.

Using statistics alone can make it difficult for the audience to relate to the experiences of disabled people and often elicited feelings of pity rather than empathy. Though it does highlight the situation, it puts distance between the audience and the disabled person featured.

So, when talking about injustice or using facts and figures, we recommend sharing a story that inspires in the right way alongside. For example, if the topic is discrimination in the workplace – show the disabled person’s skill in their job. Include their story alongside the statistics and the injustice experienced.

To read more about the research, the messages we tested and detailed findings click here.

Accessible content

If you’re serious about your commitment to challenging attitudes on disability, then you’ll also need to make sure that your content is accessible. This can allow your content to reach a much wider audience.

If you’re posting videos, make sure they are captioned. Add alternative text to any images you use. With graphics, make sure you have considered the colour contrast for those with visual impairments.

These are all simple ways that we can make our content more accessible to ensure that everyone feels included in our campaigns and messaging.

Knowing where to start can be difficult, but Scope for business runs bespoke training on content accessibility, with a free beginners guide here.

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