THE CHALLENGE

While 1 in 5 South Australians live with disability, 78% of the public admitted they weren’t sure how to act around disabled people. As a result, biases and assumptions about disability created barriers to inclusion and respect. To help combat this issue and make it easier for people living with disability to live life on their terms, The Department of Human Services wanted a campaign that could shift perceptions and encourage people to see beyond a person’s disability.

THE RESPONSE

To change behaviour, we first highlighted the behaviour itself. Leaning into every emotional disability campaign cliché, we played straight to the audience’s preconceptions, with something that looked like every other disability campaign – heartfelt stories, emotional music, candid interviews – until it didn’t. 

We started with conventional interviews with people living with a disability. At first, it appeared that they were talking about their disability: how hard it was, the judgement they received, how they came to accept it. Then we pulled the rug out from under the audience, revealing that they weren’t talking about their disability at all. They were talking about something conventionally “embarrassing” – bad music taste, fashion sense, uncool interests. 

By playing into the audience’s preconceptions, we held up a mirror to people’s biases and challenged them to reflect on how they engage with people with a disability. In doing so, we encouraged the public to see disabled people as unique, multi-faceted individuals.

THE OUTCOMES

The campaign struck a chord locally and internationally. It was covered by news outlets in Australia and across the world. Within hours of launch, the campaign went viral, reaching audiences in Canada, and even catching the attention of international rock band Nickelback, who shared the videos with hundreds of thousands of followers.

During the campaign, 96% of commentary about inclusion was positive, and 53.3% of participants reported a shift in how they viewed disability. Combined with activity from partner organisations, there was a 30% increase in traffic to inclusive.sa.gov.au and 2,130 downloads of campaign assets.

The campaign won 9 awards at AADC, and two BestAds.