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This year marked the 30th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, cornerstone civil rights legislation for people with disabilities. It was also the 75th year celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month, a key way for employers to understand the importance of creating inclusive hiring practices.
In marketing, brands have continued to arc forward, both internally in the way they approach talent, and externally in how they show up in the world. While there is progress in both areas, there is still substantial room to grow and an opportunity to create real depth of representation and understanding.
“We can’t just consider disability from an accessibility standpoint, or showing talent in an ad,” said Josh Loebner, director of strategy, diversity, equity and inclusion at Designsensory and a member of Adweek’s DEI Council. “This isn’t about checking a box, but goes all the way back to the talent pipeline and recruiting more people with disabilities into advertising.”
In Loebner’s view, while DEI is critically important, he believes that reframing the marketing parlance not only addresses issues but creates an even wider opportunity for marketers and advertising practitioners to understand how to approach the practice.
“It’s really about the creative brief, and how that initial creative stage of the process for developing [work] where diversity, equity and inclusion—and disability—can be brought into that early,” he said, noting that an acronym he prefers is IDEAS.
“It stands for ‘inclusive, diverse, equitable, accessible successes,’” said Loebner. “What’s important is the ‘successes,’ because, all too often, brand advertisers think of disability, and sometimes diversity, as more corporate citizenship, as opposed to the business case for diversity and disability inclusion.”
Loebner concedes that brands, even those making progress, may make mistakes, but that “we have to move forward to welcome disability.”
“There’s a phrase in the disability community: ‘nothing about us without us,’” said Loebner. “And that can apply to any minority group. In the creative process, if you don’t want to make mistakes, invite someone with a disability to consult and let them be part of it.”
Even without a Paralympics this year due to the pandemic, Loebner said that brands created strong work throughout the year. Below are 10 standouts that he shared.
Microsoft: Surface advertising
The latest Microsoft Surface commercial features a family using American Sign Language, seamlessly integrating their joy of using the device alongside clips of other families. It’s the latest in a string of disability inclusion initiatives by the software giant. While few companies disclose the number of employees with disabilities, Microsoft is one of the first major corporations to share that 6.1% of its employees identify as disabled.
“The great thing about it was that those people who were using ASL weren’t segmented and siloed to say that this device is dedicated to people with disabilities. Rather, those people with disabilities that were in the commercial were enjoying the product just like anybody else. And that really is what helps the commercial show that people with disabilities authentically use products just like anyone else, and it gives it kind of a tone of, of truth and timeliness,” said Loebner, who points to the brand as one of the most committed to accessibility and disability.
Loebner also stated that Microsoft ensures that accessibility and disability inclusion are deeply integrated into its software products. Microsoft broke previous ground with its Xbox Adaptive campaign.
Comcast/NBCU: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
The 2020 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade had to be reimagined due to the pandemic, which gave organizers and broadcasters a chance to incorporate new techniques. For the first time in the parade’s broadcast history, NBCUniversal provided live audio descriptions on the Secondary Audio Program channel. This audio allows people who are blind or have low vision to hear additional descriptions of the events taking place on-screen outside the hosts or stars.
“Comcast incorporated audio descriptions so that blind people and people who have low vision could experience the floats, experience the parade in a way just like everyone else,” said Loebner.
An earlier effort found Comcast launching the first talking guide and corresponding commercial, Emily’s Oz, featuring a blind 7-year-old girl sharing her creative interpretation of the Wizard of Oz.
Visit Florida: 2020 advertising
Visit Florida, the state’s tourism organization, featured a person in a beach wheelchair—a chair equipped with larger, wider wheels to navigate the beach—among a montage of other travel experiences the state offers. The woman in the chair is seen enjoying the surf along with her friend.
“People with disabilities are not segmented and siloed. They’re included with their family, recreating on the beaches in Florida in this commercial spot. It shows that people with disability, just like any other minority group, are part of that the fabric of our culture,” stated Loebner.
Visit Florida in 2019 was one of the first official state tourism organizations to incorporate an accessible travel hub on its website.
Voya Financial: Mandy Harvey campaign
In 2020, Voya Financial was recognized by the nonprofit Disability:IN as a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion and earned the 2020 Marketplace Innovator Award for its campaign sharing messages of inclusivity, kindness and anti-bullying. One campaign that brought light to the company’s efforts featured singer Mandy Harvey.
The singer, who is deaf, helped celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by teaming with a young fan who has the same affliction, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, to hike a mountain in Colorado together. It was part of the company’s “Invest in Something Special” campaign that shows why kindness is important. Voya also supports people with disabilities with many programs, including Voya Cares.
“Beyond that, down to the core of their products, they have financial services that support families and individuals with disabilities; [this includes] developing trust funds and other financial planning for disability, which is wonderful,” said Loebner.
Airbnb: Accessible online experiences
During the height of the lockdown earlier this year, Airbnb launched Online Experiences to showcase that people could travel virtually and connect with Airbnb hosts from across the globe, including those with disabilities. On Global Awareness Accessibility Day, Airbnb launched several inclusive and accessible Online Experiences that anyone could participate in, including an audio-guided cardio boxing class and adaptive yoga with a pro dancer, among many others.
“Airbnb Experiences team pivoted from their in-person experiences and invited people to see and hear and experience how people with disabilities recreate in other countries,” said Loebner.
In 2016, Airbnb acquired Accomable, a disability-inclusive and accessible travel company dedicated to creating an accessible online platform for disability travel and tourism.
Mattel: First deaf American Girl of the Year
In 2020, Joss Kendrick became the first deaf American Girl of the Year, showing that girls with hearing loss can do anything. American Girl has welcomed authentic disability conversations and commitments into its books, videos and dolls for many years.
“American Girl doll has for years been on the forefront of disability inclusion when it comes to their toys. Kids need to welcome all sorts of diversities and in toys allow them to start thinking about that. This year’s American Girl of the Year is deaf and wears an ear implant,” said Loebner.
Amazon: Kindle accessibility
Amazon has made its Kindle reading device accessible to those who need extra assistance, including people with dyslexia or other reading struggles. A digital ruler allows people to more easily follow words on the page, and a feature that can audio describe the book for those who can’t see the page.
“Amazon is taking significant strides when it comes to disability inclusion and accessibility, not only on its website but the Kindle device. It allows people who are deaf, people who are blind, people with dyslexia and other disabilities to really be able to enjoy reading with these e-readers just like anybody else,” said Loebner.
Expedia: Breaking down travel barriers
Expedia partnered with the Leonard Cheshire Disability, a charitable organization in the U.K., to develop a robust report, “Breaking Down Barriers to Travel,” that helps share insights about disability travel and accessible travel. In addition, the Expedia platform is inclusive for people who are blind or visually impaired, and the company employs a large number of people with disabilities in its workforce.
“When it comes to travel and tourism, accessible travel is something that, as we emerge from the pandemic, is going to be crucial. Even the United Nations has a tourism department, and they said recently that disability should be a core initiative for travel and tourism and destination marketing audit organizations as we emerge from the pandemic,” said Loebner.
Guide Beauty: More accessible makeup
Guide Beauty is a cosmetics startup brand that has created products and packaging that allow people with arthritis or other mobility disabilities to more easily apply makeup. The products can also help those who have low vision to apply makeup.
“Cosmetics, to an extent, may seem to be one of the last categories to welcome diversity and inclusion, and we are seeing much more of that with many diverse models and disabled models. When brands become accessible, when websites are more accessible, when products are more ergonomically designed, they allow more people, not just people with disabilities, to experience them in ways that fit better into their lives. So it becomes a positive for everyone,” claimed Loebner.
Google: Accessible businesses
Recently, Google rolled out a product within its Maps application to allow accessibility features to be identified. Businesses and brands with physical locations can go into their pins and denote how accessible their business is. People with mobility disabilities can search on Google Maps and find accessible bathrooms, restaurants and entertainment venues.
“Google continues to do amazing things when it comes to disability inclusion,” explained Loebner. “And this is just a very small thing among its many other initiatives when it comes to disability, inclusion and accessibility of their search engine and other digital platforms.”
