Diverse or Just Pretending? Why Your Stock Photos Need Authentic Disability Representation
A picture from the TommyHilfiger.com website shows adaptive clothing for people with disabilities. One model has a prosthetic arm, and another is in a manual wheelchair. Both are wearing Tommy Adaptive clothing.
Many companies limit website images to licensed ones stored in a central image repository. Frequently, they do this to ensure that only “approved” images are used. Unfortunately, the disability-inclusive images in these repositories often fall short of an acceptable minimum.
Some photos perpetuate stereotypes, like an older white woman in a medical setting seated in an oversized hospital wheelchair being attended to by a young, attractive woman of color. This image is a visual cliché that reinforces outdated power dynamics and lacks authenticity.
Other images are downright offensive, such as Adobe Stock’s infamous and very inappropriate photos of caretakers force-feeding elderly people in wheelchairs, which dehumanizes and objectifies them.
A third group of stock libraries ignores disability altogether and doesn’t include any representative images.
This lack of realistic, respectful representation limits the ability of organizations to create inclusive visual narratives. This ultimately contributes to the erasure or misrepresentation of people with disabilities in digital spaces.
The lack of appropriate stock photos can unfairly burden employees with visible disabilities. When companies realize they need diverse pictures and don’t have them, employees are often asked to step in at the last minute as models for corporate campaigns.
From the employer’s perspective, this is a quick, cheap fix for showcasing their commitment to diversity.
From the employee’s perspective, it is exhausting and intrusive and highlights the employer’s non-inclusive nature.
Being repeatedly asked to appear in marketing materials can feel tokenizing to employees with disabilities, especially if they are the “only one who looks like them.” Employees feel pressured to say “yes” to these requests to avoid appearing uncooperative. This practice places the onus on disabled staff to solve a problem that the employer should have addressed by investing in better planning and improved stock photo libraries.
Why Do We Need Disability Representation?
Disability representation is crucial in ensuring that people with disabilities are seen, respected, and included. Including a full range of all types of disabilities challenges stereotypes and educates people about what disability looks like in the real world. Including authentic representation in visual content fosters a sense of belonging and reinforces the idea that people with disabilities are part of everyday life, from workplaces to social spaces. This visibility is not just about inclusion; it’s about changing the narrative from “otherness” to every day, promoting social change, and advocating for equality.
Organizations cannot legitimately claim they are inclusive unless they act inclusively. Many talk a good game about disability, inclusion, and valuing all abilities but demonstrate little or no commitment or action to back up those words.
Ignoring the marketing power of people with disabilities can hurt your bottom line. People with disabilities in the US alone have half a trillion dollars in disposable income. This explains why fashion companies may be the first to come on board with marketing campaigns about and for people with disabilities. And they are doing it in a way that tells people with disabilities they are just like everyone else: taking an existing clothing line and making it work for people with disabilities, not creating a different and separate line.
To have a successful campaign that includes disabilities, follow these guidelines to make your stock photo library more diverse and less dismissive of disabilities.
DON’T use non-disabled models to fake a disability
People with disabilities can tell when you have done this, just like musicians can tell based on hand placement and body movement when a non-musician has been used in a movie and the music dubbed. The tubing on the hearing aid is too long, or the hands in a supposed ASL shot are incorrect. It’s the wheelchair that is not even close to the correct size or looks like it came straight from the closest pharmacy.
The only thing more irritating than not seeing any photos at all of people with visible disabilities is seeing photos of people who don’t have a disability that are staged to look like they have a disability.
This is the disabled equivalent of blackface.
Pretty much any use of blackface these days can get you fired.
However, no one seems to think twice about shooting photographs of a model with no disabilities sitting in a wheelchair.
There are agencies dedicated to models with disabilities. Craigslist and Facebook groups exist if your budget doesn’t allow for an agency. People with disabilities can always be found, but you must care enough to look for them.
DON’T make every shot about a person with a disability relying on a non-disabled person
If I see one more photo of a child with a disability playing with their therapist on the floor of their office, I am not going to be responsible for whatever nearby object I damage. This furthers the ridiculous and old-fashioned stereotype of the medical model of disability. People with disabilities do not have something wrong with them that needs to be fixed by medical care providers.
People with disabilities go shopping, work in business settings, drive cars or use public transportation, and go to movies, concerts, and restaurants like everyone else. Seeing a person with a disability out with friends for a meal is way more meaningful to me than yet another photo set in a medical office. It resonates with my life and how I see myself.
Please, no inspiration porn
Another thing I am completely exhausted by in stock photos is inspiration porn. The term “inspiration porn” was coined by the late Stella Young as part of her TED Talk “I’m not your inspiration, thank you very much.” Stella was adamant that news stories about people with disabilities doing things that would not make news if the person didn’t have a disability did nothing but objectify people with disabilities to make people without disabilities think, “Look, if they can do it, so can we.” Simultaneously, these types of headlines make other people with disabilities feel worse about themselves and result in lower self-esteem. Photos of people with mobility devices crossing finish lines, in a victory pose, or standing next to their wheelchairs are all different types of inspiration porn. Pictures of a disabled individual going to the prom with homecoming royalty? Inspiration porn. Delete these photos from your database, and ban them in your photography standards.
Remember, intersectionality is a thing
I am not just a person who uses a wheelchair. I am a tall, slightly overweight, Caucasian, middle-aged mother who uses a wheelchair. My daughter is an Asian woman with hearing aids. People with disabilities, like people in general, come in all ethnicities, genders, ages, and sizes. Ensure those additional dimensions are adequately represented in your photos of people with disabilities.
How do you capture disabilities that aren’t visible?
Seventy percent of all disabilities are invisible, hidden, or non-apparent. A partial list includes mental health disabilities, autism, ADHD, fine motor skill issues, speech disorders, and dyslexia. They can be challenging to convey visually.
One effective way to visually represent invisible disabilities is by incorporating subtle identifiers like the sunflower lanyard. Widely recognized as a symbol for hidden disabilities, the sunflower lanyard can signal that the person may need extra time, patience, or support.
It’s also important to describe these disabilities in the alt-text and captions. For example, an image of someone wearing noise-canceling headphones could include alt-text like, “Person using noise-canceling headphones due to sensory sensitivity.”
Linking to a model’s page where they discuss their disability is also effective.
Providing additional context with the photo helps educate viewers and makes the visual more meaningful, ensuring that those with invisible disabilities are seen and understood.
Consider using a photographer with a disability
When you have a visible disability, chances are you have spent a large chunk of your life avoiding having photos taken. Photographers with disabilities, especially visible ones, understand that. They belong to the club that no one really wants to join. They will ask the participants what they want people to understand or think of in the shoot and make them feel comfortable.
Conclusion
You don’t need to be Tommy Hilfiger or Microsoft and start a business centered around disabilities to include people with disabilities in your stock photos.
Step One: Admit that you need to close a gap and that your existing photos could be more diverse.
Step Two: Include a variety of disabilities on your call sheet for your next photo shoot.
Step Three: Stage your disability photo shoot respectfully and without furthering stereotypes. Finding a photographer with a disability makes this step easier.
Final Step: Ensure all stock photo users at your organization know the updates.
Don’t forget to provide alt-text for your newly diverse photos using People First language.
Leave #Diversish and head towards genuinely Diverse !!!