Hiki, a friendship and dating app for the autistic community, has collaborated with Getty Images on an ambitious initiative to increase authentic representations of autistic people.
#AutisticOutLoud will look to fight against negative visual stereotypes by delivering content that showcases the resilience and diversity of the autistic community.
By enlisting autistic content creators and photographers, the campaign will see the creation of a curated gallery of images and videos highlighting the complex variations within the community.
The campaign was created by a cross-agency WPP team, spearheaded by media agency Mindshare which also led the partnership with Getty Images.
“The autistic community is not a monolith. Yet in media and entertainment, they’re often infantilised or stereotyped as savants with a voice that typically centres the experience of white males,” Hiki founder and CEO, Jamil Karriem said.
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“At Hiki, our mission is to connect all people across the autistic community, and give them a place where their identities and lived experiences can be honoured and validated. A crucial part of that is for the autistic community to be seen for all of their tremendous differences and nuances as unique individuals.”
With VMLY&R and Set Creative also contributing to the WPP team on creative branding and strategy, content created as part of this campaign will be made available via Getty Images’ Disability Collection and Unsplash.
The work will also be available for commercial use by media platforms in order to drive greater awareness of the initiative within the industry.
Getty Images global head of creative insights, Dr. Rebecca Swift, added: “We’re excited to be a part of this initiative and bring in new perspectives from talented creators who very much represent the diversity of the autistic community.
“This content is another step in our ongoing work of visualising disability and our aim is to emphasise to content creators, brands and agencies the true nature of our global community.”
Earlier in April, Vanish launched its Channel 4 Diversity In Advertising Award-Winning ad campaign that shines a spotlight on how families live with autistic teenagers.
