New South Wales-based certified social enterprise Disinfluencer is on a mission to take disability mainstream and is already working with some of Australia’s leading brands to create more inclusive advertising.
Australia’s first dedicated inclusive hub was launched in April 2023 by its founder, Merimbula local and mum of two Simone Eyles.
The online platform provides businesses, brands and workplaces with the tools, education and talent they need to become more inclusive to help them create content that represents people with disabilities in powerful ways.
With Disability Pride Month currently underway, Disinfluencer has this week launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $15,000 to place a major billboard on Sydney’s Princess Highway.
There are also plans for the enterprise to launch a subscription offering before the end of July, which will offer businesses and brands ongoing access to a stock photo library, user-generated content (UGC) and e-learning modules.
Speaking to SmartCompany, Eyles said a couple of years ago she began questioning why we don’t see disability in the media in a different light – in a commercial and empowering light and through marketing.
Then a chance meeting with the founder of a prominent NSW women’s online fashion retailer in 2023 gave Eyles the opportunity to pitch her concept to do photos for the brand.
“I live on the far south coast of New South Wales and I saw Jane Cay, the founder of Birdsnest, in a car park, so I jumped on her,” Eyles recalls.
“I gave her my elevator pitch as she was trying to get into her car and she loved it.
“My thought was … brands don’t know how to engage with people with disabilities for their content.”
Birdsnest previously met with disability advocate and author Lisa Cox in 2022 to speak about disability inclusion, with Cox also doing some modelling for the brand.
Eyles says she decided to create the content for the retailer because she understands business, marketing and disability.
“So we did some content for Birdsnest and then I started pitching to brands, and none of them were supposed to say yes. They were all supposed to say no,” she says.
“From that, I just realised that they actually do want to be inclusive. They do want that representation, but where do they go to get it? How do you do that?”
So far, Disinfluencer has worked with 12 brands, including Birdsnest, Happy Hair Brush, Canberra Airport and Vivid Sydney.
Although at the moment Eyles is running the business herself, she does have a helper who works one day a week.
Eyles says one in five people have a disability.
“That’s 4.4 million Australians and they do not sit in silence,” she says.
“I don’t have a disability, but my child (Josh) does and I don’t see anyone marketing to him.
“People with disabilities are consumers. They have to brush their teeth, they have to wash their clothes and they eat their breakfast.
“No one is talking to them and including them.”
Eyles says if the brands you know and love don’t talk to you, it’s a missed opportunity.
“Brands have the power to be quite persuasive in swaying the stigma and really propelling inclusion and seeing people just as they are. Like, if you have a disability, invisible or not, you’re still a consumer, and it’s great,” she says.
“Why can’t they be included and marketed to, like anyone else who’s spending their money with them?
“It’s a really missed opportunity, especially in this tough economic climate.”
Eyles also spoke with SmartCompany about how businesses can get started on their journeys to becoming more inclusive.
“The first step they can take is understanding disability, not being afraid to talk about disability and asking how they can support people,” she says.
“(Brands) can have an accessibility statement on their website. That’s a really great place to start.
“People with disabilities know their needs, they know the support they need, but no one’s asking them. ‘what can I do to support you?’”
“If we can get rid of the stigma around the word disability, if we can understand that disability isn’t a dirty word, and just talk about disability as a normal human experience, and ask people what their needs are in a workplace, that can be through HR, through digital channels (or) be an accessibility statement.
“Say, ‘hey, you know we’re trying to be accessible. If we’re not accessible to you, tell us what we can do to support you to access our business, that’s the first place they can start through their marketing and advertising, by being inclusive and having that kind of consultation at the start.”
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