Changing the image of disability: Why ‘seeing yourself’ represented is so important
Last week, we added a new collection of images to our Disability Smart Image Bank. Here disabled models Courtney and Fleur tell us why our ‘Changing the image of disability’ campaign and Disability Smart Image Bank are so important to them.
For Courtney, who has a mental health condition, deciding to become a model for the first time came down to not seeing himself – or his condition – represented when disability was depicted in the media.
“Doing something like this was a first for me. As a black man, I wanted to show that disability can affect anyone. I also wanted to be an advocate of good mental health for men. I want men to know it’s OK to not be OK.”
Courtney took part in Business Disability Forum’s ‘Changing the Image of Disability’ campaign, which launched in March 2024. The campaign aims to transform how disability is portrayed in stock imagery, which is a mainstay of marketing and communications. Research by Ipsos and Business Disability Forum, conducted as part of the campaign, confirmed that disabled people are often ‘missing’ from imagery seen in media, marketing, or advertising.
Campaign resources include a Disability Smart Image Bank for BDF’s business membership, a free collection for the media and free guidance on how to select, commission and use images in a disability-smart way.
When shown in conventional stock imagery, disabled people are often depicted in a medical or care setting, with only a few, select disabilities shown. Less-visible conditions, including mental health conditions, are rarely depicted. Stock images have also been known to use non-disabled models to portray disabled people, and it is believed that disabled models are severely underrepresented.
‘Changing the Image of Disability’ has countered this with a unique collection of 600 images of people with a broad range of visible and less-visible disabilities and conditions, in a wide variety of real-life settings. Business Disability Forum recruited a diverse team of disabled models to create the new images.
To mark 2024’s International Day of Disabled Persons, we added 100 new images to the image bank. These show disabled people socialising, eating, drinking and working at a major transport hub. A group of professional and non-professional disabled models took part. Shot at an airport, the images are some of the first to depict disability in this setting.
Courtney, who took part in one of the earlier photoshoots said: “I think this is a beautiful campaign. I remember, earlier on in my career, looking for different images of disabilities that aren’t easily visible. I was looking for pictures around mental health. There were no pictures that I could find to use as part of my presentation. A plethora of images to do with being blind or being a wheelchair user, or somebody who had a hearing impairment, but you just couldn’t find enough pictures showing other disabilities.”
Fleur Samways, 19, from Bath, took part in the recent airport photoshoot. Fleur spoke to BBC South about the campaign and her experiences of having inflammatory bowel disease, a stoma and an ostomy bag. Similarly to Courtney, Fleur welcomed the image bank’s representation of less visible disabilities:
“I think it’s really important that there’s a broad range of disabilities shown because in a lot of businesses and industries, disabilities just aren’t shown. When people like me see that there is representation, it’s a lot more comfortable. I think this campaign is doing what we need to get this across.
“For people like me, when we see ourselves being represented in any media, it all just feels a lot more normal.”
Go to our Changing the Image of Disability page to find out more about the campaign and the free collection of images available to the media.
Business Disability Forum Members and Partners have access to the full image bank.