In the fall of 2015, I helped launch the “Reframe Disability” campaign on the Colorado State University (CSU) campus. This is a campaign that was created in partnership between two student organization I was a part of, Ability Club and Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society.

The purpose of this campaign was to normalize disability by introducing concepts and ideas to the campus community that reframed the way society sees disability. Each of these concepts helps break down stereotypes and stigma around disability.

The program has introduced three concepts. Each concept from the campaign is introduced through t-shirts that are given out to members of the CSU community.  Each t-shirt comes with a pamphlet that helps explain the concept and introduces community members to history and information about the disability rights movement.

Concept 1: Reframe Disability

The first concept of the campaign was called “Reframe Disability”. The phrase “Reframe Disability” comes from a long line of disability advocates who have strived to embrace the social model of disability which aims to empower the individual by connecting them to the larger community. This concept was meant to challenge all people, regardless of their level of ability, to rethink or reframe the way they perceive disability. When wearing this shirt you are helping to present a different narrative for disability; one where we don’t define people by their limitations but by their unique talents, experiences, and perspectives on the world.

Concept 2: This is What Disability Looks Like

The second concept of this campaign was called “This is What Disability Looks Like” This concept was meant to show that disability does not “look” like just one thing. In fact, disability touches a lot of people in many different ways and often times cannot be seen. Disabilities don’t make a person deficient; they just shape different stories. Even though all disabled people have different stories we can be united in our shared experience of facing the barriers created by the environment. With this concept of the campaign, we hope to show that disability is not something to be ashamed of. If you identify as disabled you should be proud of who are and where you came from and where you are going. By wearing this shirt you are helping to reclaim this term as an identity and not just a condition to overcome.

Concept 3: Disabled is not a Dirty Word

The third concept of the campaign was called “Disabled is not a Dirty Word”. This concept was geared towards breaking down the stigma around the word “disabled”. For some reason, our society sees the word “disabled” as a bad word. We try to find other words like “special needs”, “differentlyabled”, or “handicapable” to describe and identify people with disabilities. By doing this we only give the stigma around the word “disabled” more power. There is nothing wrong with the word “disabled” and this concept is meant to show that. By wearing a shirt with this phrase on it we work to break down that stigma and replace it with positive connotations of the word “disabled”.

With this campaign, we hoped to empower individuals with disabilities and allies to normalize disability, because disability is just that, normal.

Media

Collegian: Reframe Disability campaign aims to reclaim the word ‘disabled’