18 March 2025

How to include disabled people in your marketing

Deaf man putting his hands to his ears to indicate that he can not hear

From a marketing perspective, it’s essential to market your services appropriately and to think about how your content is received by people with disabilities. And this is true regardless of which market you operate in; ensuring your audience can access your content is absolutely key.

According to Purple Tuesday, 1.8 billion disabled people in the world represent 17% of the population. This 17% is often undervalued or unconsidered as potential clients.

The ‘purple pound’ is the phrase often used to refer to the collective spending power of all disabled people in the UK and is estimated to be around £246 billion pounds a year.

The ‘purple pound’ is an untapped market of disabled people whose needs are not met, and so their money is not spent. It’s that simple. Why spend money or buy into something that isn’t marketed or accessible to you?

To give you a good idea of how to include disabled people in your marketing, we have suggested 6 simple steps. Not only will you open your services to an entirely new and valuable market, but your services will be fairer and more accessible.

Step 1 Make your digital content accessible

The first thing to do is to assess your current digital content, whether it is displayed on your website, social media or emails. Run an audit on image descriptions, audio, videos, copy and features (such as stories or polls).

You can use the below guidance as your accessibility checklist:

Add alt text to images – Alt text, short for ‘Alternative text’, is a brief description of an image that screen readers can access and read-out-loud. For best practice, keep it concise and include both keywords and context.
Add closed captions and subtitles to videos – Captions and subtitles make your videos accessible for many users. From people with hearing loss or learning disabilities to those who prefer to watch content without sound or have forgotten their headphones at home. Or you could go a step further and add a BSL signer to your video to make it fully accessible to d/Deaf people.
Use Camel case hashtags #LikeThis – Camel case is when you capitalise the first letter of each word in hashtags, #LikeThis or #DisabilityAwareness or for our company #A2iTranscriptionServices. Camel case hashtags are easier to read for screen readers and people with visual impairments as they separate words by capitalisation.
Use one to two emojis per post – With a screen reader, the user has to listen to the full name of every single emoji being read aloud. It’s good to use one or two per post but avoid using them one after another.
Write in simple and plain language – Try to avoid heavy use of jargon and technical language to make your posts more accessible. This will benefit your new followers, visitors, those new to your industry, non-native speakers and people with learning disabilities.
Be mindful of colour contrast – Around 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have some degree of colour blindness. This means they don’t see colours how most people do. The colour contrast between text and backgrounds can really affect some people’s ability to read. Click WebAIM: Contrast Checker to find out how highly certain colours contrast against each other.
Use accessible fonts – Serif or script fonts that are decorative can be difficult to read and are also inaccessible for screen readers. Ensure you use standard fonts instead.

Two autistic friends sitting outside using stim toys and laughing at their phones

Step 2 Work with a Marketing Agency, specialised in accessibility

Why not consider partnering with a specialist agency that understands the nuances of marketing to disabled audiences? They could help you create fully inclusive and accessible communications?

Look into what inclusive campaigns, strategies, and training they can offer to enable your marketing department to think and act with accessibility in mind.

Step 3 Use inclusive language

Avoid using language that may be exclusive or stigmatising and be mindful of the words and tone you use in your marketing materials. For example, you shouldn’t say that someone is ‘suffering from’, or ‘affected with’ a mental illness. It’s always better to say a person is ‘being treated for’ or ‘someone with’ a mental illness.

Step 4 Carry out market research of disabled customers

Understand your disabled customers’ needs, preferences, and behaviours through thorough market research. This can help you tailor your campaigns effectively.

Don’t forget to scope the competition and understand what your competitors are doing well in terms of inclusion and accessibility. Can you adapt this to your strategy?

Step 5 Feature disabled people in marketing materials

A father and his autistic son looking at each other and smiling

Show representation by featuring disabled individuals in your marketing materials. For example, celebrate good news and produce seasonal content in line with the UK Awareness Calendar. This demonstrates inclusivity and authenticity.

Step 6 Ensure authentic inclusivity

Lastly, avoid “diversity washing”. This gives the illusion of diversity and inclusivity without the real, genuine change needed to ensure an inclusive, equitable workplace. Instead you should look to create and deliver tailored product offering and content based on your thorough market research. Being genuine and and authentic will always be appreciated by your audience.

For more information

We hope this blog gave you a good understanding of what accessibility looks like and why it’s important.

If you have any questions, please give us a call or send us an email. You can also take a look at our website!

Telephone: 01179 44 00 44

Email: info@a2i.co.uk

Website: www.a2i.co.uk

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