This post was adapted from Unlock Health’s The Link newsletter. Subscribe to The Link to get insights like this directly in your inbox.
The Gold Standard
What’s going on?
As Paralympic athletes prepare to compete for gold, the spirit of inclusivity is extraordinarily high — but can it be sustained?
As the excitement surrounding the Olympics begins to fade, the enthusiasm for the Paralympics is steadily growing. From August 28 to September 8, Paralympic athletes will take the spotlight, competing on behalf of their countries. With a record-breaking 160 broadcasters signing on to cover the event, it is poised to become the most-watched Paralympics in history. Increased broadcasting has led to a surge of sponsors eager to support the games. This year stands out for the remarkable lineup of prominent sponsors backing the games, including P&G, Airbnb, and Visa.
This change represents a positive step toward enhancing stability for Paralympic events and fostering inclusivity more broadly. However, it also underscores the ongoing lack of awareness of disability inclusion beyond these events in media, healthcare, everyday infrastructure like sidewalks and websites.
Going beyond the finish line
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that 1 in 6 people across the globe have a disability. Yet according to Nielsen, disability representation and disability-inclusive video titles across traditional and digital streaming platforms continue to be remarkably low, even declining in the last year.
Paralympic athletes, and para-athletes alike, work day after day not for special treatment, but for representation and inclusivity. Channel4, a publicly owned and commercially funded British public service broadcaster (PSB), shares content that amplifies marginalized voices and reinvents entertainment. To promote the Paralympics and its streaming of the games, Channel4 released a campaign highlighting the sheer strength of para-athletes, both physically and mentally. It challenges the premise of limitations: “Sport doesn’t care about disability.”
Visit the Paralympic Games YouTube page for videos on sport explainers and to learn more about the athletes competing.
What’s the Link?
Para-athletes and patients with disabilities aren’t the only audience marketers stand to gain with inclusive messaging.
The spectrum of disability is wide. Some individuals with disabilities independently manage their own healthcare, while others are supported by caregivers. Some people live their entire lives with a disability, but others may not experience disability until later due to injury or the onset of age-related hearing, vision, or mobility loss. According to the Unlock Consumer Compass™ 36% of American adults are involved in their parents’ healthcare decisions. This insight should lead healthcare providers and marketers to strategize their messaging to also target their efforts towards caregivers. They have a considerable amount of influence over the healthcare decisions being made or at times may even be the ones making the decisions for their loved one(s).
When messaging to individuals with disabilities or caregivers of those with a disability, incorporating imagery and language that represents their experience can build trust and better connections. Conveying an inclusive culture and care setting can help instill confidence that your organization is well-suited to help people with disabilities and their loved ones make informed healthcare decisions.
Note these first steps to ensuring your strategy is inclusive and accessible for all patients and caregivers:
- Include accurate and authentic representation within marketing strategy: Featuring patients across the spectrum of ability and disability only makes marketing stronger. A study by Nielsen InfluenceScope found that social media posts by content creators with disabilities generated a media value 21% better than the average as well as 21% more post interactions. The figures show that there’s a desire for inclusive content.
- Ensure a disability-inclusive and accessible digital user experience: Not only is this critically beneficial for patients, caregivers, job seekers, and employees who visit your website, but for your organization’s reach as well. There are specific Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) legal requirements all digital marketers should follow. Unlock recommends adhering to WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, which aligns with ADA requirements for digital accessibility for users with disabilities. Examples of WCAG 2.1 AA compliance on a website include maintaining sufficient color contrast between background and text, providing alt text for all images, ensuring the website is keyboard-friendly, and using a proper content structure.
- Prioritize disability within diversity, equity, and inclusion policy: The diverse perspectives and unique challenges of individuals with disabilities should be addressed with the same intentionality as perspectives on race, gender, sexual orientation, and other facets of identity. Whether it be in the Paralympic Games or healthcare marketing, inclusivity should not be the exception, but the standard.
Learn More about Web Compliance on WCAG
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