New campaign aims to make media hostility towards disabled people unprofitable… now it needs your help

Disabled people can now report media coverage that scapegoats and stigmatises them and contributes to the hostile environment many of them face in their daily lives, thanks to a new campaign.

The Disability Media Action campaign was launched this week by Inclusion London* during National Hate Crime Awareness Week.

It allows disabled people and allies to report harmful, disablist media coverage and the advertisers who promote their products and services alongside these articles and broadcasts.

Inclusion London is now asking for examples of newspaper articles; online news stories; opinion and comment pieces; television programmes; radio programmes and podcasts; and social media content published by media organisations.

It is particularly seeking coverage that portrays disabled people as a burden; stigmatises those with mental distress or ill-health or those who are neurodivergent; reinforces prejudice or hostility towards disabled people; promotes benefit fraud stereotypes; suggests disabled people are receiving “special treatment” or are undeserving of support; or excludes disabled people’s voices from media coverage.

Inclusion London said it hoped to “give advertisers a reason to drop hateful platforms, and hit them where it hurts – their pockets”, ensuring that it is “embarrassing, not profitable, to promote hate”.

It said: “Most media outlets rely on advertising revenue. They push disablist narratives because it generates clicks and sales.

“By putting pressure on advertisers not to support outlets who promote disability hate, we can make disablism unprofitable.”

It added: “We will clearly demonstrate to advertisers that funding media outlets who promote disability hatred is not just morally wrong, it also negatively impacts public perception of their company.”

Inclusion London hopes to bring the reports together to build up a pattern of evidence that “cannot be dismissed”.

It says there are “growing concerns” about the harmful portrayal of disabled people in parts of the UK media, which can shape attitudes, political debate and public policy.

The impact of such coverage can reinforce prejudice and discrimination; undermine support for disability rights and independent living; contribute to hostility, abuse and disability hate crime; affect disabled people’s mental health and wellbeing; and exclude disabled people’s voices from debates about their own lives.

The new campaign was partly inspired by a Disability News Service article in August, which asked disabled people’s organisations to suggest ways in which they and their allies could fight back against the “deeply concerning” rise in hostile media coverage that has been targeting disabled people.

It is also inspired by the Stop Funding Hate campaign, which aims to “advance human rights by making hate unprofitable”.

Among the worst recent examples of disablist hostility across the UK media have been a column by Jeremy Clarkson in the Sunday Times, in which he compared disabled benefit claimants to dogs; and a column in The Times by Kathleen Stock, in which she questioned why many young women were using walking-sticks.

Last year, broadcaster GB News insisted it had nothing to apologise for after a right-wing commentator and comedian suggested the best way to cut the number of disabled people claiming benefits was to starve or shoot them.

And broadcasting watchdog Ofcom cleared Talk TV over comments made by journalist Isabel Oakeshott, who had described some young people on disability benefits as “parasites”.

Louise Holden, senior policy officer at Inclusion London, said this week: “The way disabled people are represented in the media matters.

“One story on its own can be dismissed, but when the same harmful narratives appear again and again they reveal a pattern of prejudice that has real consequences for disabled people’s lives.

“Disability Media Action will help us build the evidence needed to challenge damaging coverage, hold media organisations to account and make disablism unprofitable.”

Melanie, a disability activist and member of Lincolnshire Disabled People Against Cuts, said: “Negative media coverage costs us as disabled people, as rising hostility and uncertainty means we feel unsafe, and fear for our future, whether that’s through yet more benefit cuts, barriers in healthcare or fighting against cuts to services we rely on to live independently.

“For example, Motability vehicles are vital for many of us to get around, but our access to wheelchair-accessible vehicles has come under threat and been restricted after the media labelled them as ‘free cars’.”

Melanie said it feels as though “everything is against us, like it’s a war against disabled people”, particularly for those who are autistic, or those who have ADHD or mental distress, ill-health or trauma.

Such “hostile media articles” cause mental distress, particularly for disabled people who believed society had moved towards wider acceptance of neurodivergence.

Tam Preboye, independent victims’ advocate, trainer and anti-hate crime consultant with Stay Safe East, which is run by disabled people and supports disabled survivors of abuse, said: “When the media portrays disabled people as a burden, it gives hostility a platform to grow.

“During the pandemic, many disabled people experienced abuse and hostility – both online and in person – from people who viewed disabled people as a burden or a threat.

“Portraying us as ‘scroungers’, or as a drain on public resources, fuels resentment towards people who are already facing barriers.

“Adding to this, disabled people can also experience multiple forms of hate, so all forms of hostility in the media can affect disabled people.”

*Inclusion London is a Disability News Service subscriber