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Changing Perceptions on Sight Loss in Style
From the extra cost of disability to barriers to employment and a lack of representation, here’s why supporting disabled content creators matters now more than ever. For the brand perspective, read my article on why brands need to work with disabled influencers.
In light of the recent and very controversial – dare I say it, scathing – Telegraph article written by Poppy Coburn, which, in my opinion, put a deeply damaging lens on disabled and chronically ill content creators by labelling them “sickfluencers”, I wanted to share why it is crucial now more than ever to support disabled content creators.
For many of us, creating content is about so much more than posting a video or sharing a photograph. It is a way to represent our community, speak about issues that affect our lives and, in some cases, earn an income that helps us support ourselves. When you follow, share or work with a disabled creator, you help make it possible for them to continue that work and reach the people who might need to hear it.
Disabled content creators need and deserve the opportunity to grow their followings and have their work pushed out by the algorithm. A larger platform can give them:
This visibility matters. Someone might see a creator talking openly about their disability and feel understood for the first time. A brand might discover someone who can help it think more carefully about accessibility. A conversation online might reach people who had never considered the barriers disabled people face in everyday life.
But for that to happen, disabled creators need their content to be seen and their work to be valued.
See more fashion, travel, beauty and accessible lifestyle content on Instagram.
Follow @fashioneyesta2012It is no mystery among the disability community that being disabled costs money – a lot of it. Mobility aids, taxi journeys, computer software and apps, and extra treatments can all come at an additional cost. For some people, there are also higher energy bills, specialist equipment or support they need to get through the day.
According to Scope’s 2025 Disability Price Tag report, disabled households need an average of £1,095 more each month to achieve the same standard of living as non-disabled households. This is an average for households, and individual needs and costs vary, but it shows the scale of the financial pressure many disabled people face.
So doing something as simple as using a disabled person’s affiliate code, watching their video, sharing a post or interacting with their content can help them earn extra income to fund things they might need on top of daily expenses. These small actions can also help a creator demonstrate to brands that their work has an engaged audience.
Contrary to what some people may think, or what the media and politicians can sometimes allude to, disabled people often do want to work. The reality is that getting into work and staying in work can be much harder because of a range of barriers, including:
My Access to Work was cut by 80 per cent this year and so to help disabled people and allies I put together a campaign page with everything you need to know and ways to help.
All of these things contribute to disabled people being unable to work in conventional jobs, even when they have the skills and the desire to do so. For some, working from home as a content creator and being their own boss might be the best option open to them. It can offer a way to work around access needs, appointments or fluctuating health, although creating content is still work and takes time, skill and energy.
That is why supporting someone in this career path is incredibly vital. A creator’s income does not appear out of nowhere: audiences and brands play a part in making that work sustainable.
In the past, I have known brands to work with disabled people once for a certain piece of content or campaign, only to never work with them again. Disabled creators deserve long-term opportunities, not a single appearance when disability happens to be part of a campaign.
Around 1.3 billion people worldwide live with a significant disability. That is roughly one in six of us. Disability is also a community that someone can become part of through sickness, injury or age. Yet disabled people are still often vastly under-represented.
Showing your support for a disabled content creator can help them gain lasting opportunities with companies, brands and organisations. It can help them continue their work, bring their perspective into more spaces and show brands that disabled audiences and disabled talent matter all year round.
Now more than ever, disabled people face discrimination, injustice and inaccessibility in daily life. Whether we are talking about wheelchair users being denied spaces on buses, guide dog access refusals or cuts to welfare schemes, the disabled community is facing a lot right now.
Disabled creators are often the people documenting these experiences, explaining why they matter and sharing information with others who may be going through the same thing. That work takes courage, especially when speaking up can expose someone to criticism or hostility online.
By liking, commenting, sharing or otherwise interacting with a disabled content creator’s post, you can help boost it in the algorithm, spread its reach and get it in front of the right audience. You are helping to give disabled people a voice and a platform at a time when both are needed.
If this post resonates with you, please support my work by liking, commenting and sharing it. You can also follow me through my other links and explore the work of other disabled creators.
If you know any disabled content creators, tag them below – or tag yourself if you are one. Follow and support the accounts you discover. Engage with their work, use their affiliate links or codes when they share something you genuinely want, and encourage brands to build lasting relationships with them.
Supporting disabled content creators is one way to help us keep creating, advocating, representing our community and earning a living from the work we do.
Fashioneyesta
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