A third of UK adults (32%) say they have not seen, watched or read any disability-related media or advertising content in the last six months, according to a new study conducted for the Business Disability Forum.
The research was carried out by Ipsos and explored the views of over 6,500 adults across the UK, including 2,300 who identified as disabled. Of those with a disability less than a quarter (23%) agreed that the images they saw of disabled people reflected their experience of disability.
Only 7% felt that disability is represented realistically or reflects everyday life images, while just 11% thought that representation of disabled people is getting better and only 13% believed the images they had seen related to them.
Further findings revealed confusion around disability with one in six (17%) uncertain or unsure as to whether they had seen disability represented in any content they had seen in the last six months.
It also found that some disabilities were portrayed more often than others, with images featuring a wheelchair or mobility scooter user most common (26%), followed by images of blindness or sight loss (21%) or mental health conditions (20%).
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Meanwhile, images of speech impediments, skin conditions, muscular skeletal, energy-limiting or dexterity-related conditions had all been seen by less than 10% of respondents.
Through its ‘Changing the image of disability’ campaign work, the Business Disability Forum is seeking to improve the representation of people with all kinds of disabilities, including invisible disabilities, across media and advertising.
In total, 16 million people in the UK identify as disabled and less than 1 in 10 of these (1.2 million) use a wheelchair.
Business Disability Forum head of communications Lara Davis said: “Our view of the world is influenced by the images we see in media and advertising. Too often disabled people are either missing from that content or are represented in an unrealistic way, reinforcing unhelpful stereotypes and leaving disabled people feeling overlooked and misunderstood.”
“Through our ‘Changing the image of disability’ campaign, we are showing the diversity of real disabled people to help increase understanding around disability — particularly less-visible conditions, which have a huge impact on people’s daily lives but can be difficult to portray visually and often go unseen.”
“We hope the images and guidance we have created will challenge everyone to thing differently and will help businesses and the media to create a more authentic and rounded view of disability.”
