This event will hear from those who are striving to shift narratives around disability through public awareness campaigns globally and will explore whether and how an empirical approach to ‘framing’ could effectively move public perceptions and behaviours.

Thirty years after the world’s first disability discrimination law (the Americans with Disabilities Act 1990), and fourteen years after the UN adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, debate remains fierce on how to influence public attitudes and behaviours towards disabled people: how to erode and replace discriminatory stereotypes. Disability rights advocates argue that charities (perhaps inadvertently) reinforce negative imagery in their promotion and fundraising. Yet arguably defining disability as a core equality issue has not, as yet, lit up public consciousness and action. 

Meet our speakers and chair

Fredrick Ouko (@FredrickOuko1) is Program Officer of the Disability Rights Program, Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa. He is the founder of Action Network for the Disabled and Riziki Source in Kenya. Fredrick is a member of the inaugural 2017-2018 cohort of Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme based at the International Inequalities Institute, LSE. He has been involved with disability rights work and advocacy for over 15 years.

Liz Sayce (@lizsayce) is a JRF Practitioner Fellow at the International Inequalities Institute at LSE. Liz was Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK (and its legacy charity Radar) from 2007-2017, where she led work for equal participation for all, through programmes on independent living, career opportunities and shifts in cultural attitudes and behaviour. She is a member of the Committee of Healthwatch England and the Social Security Advisory Committee. With a background in mental health and disability policy, previous roles include Director of Policy and Communications at the Disability Rights Commission, where she led formal investigations and a new ‘Disability Agenda’; and Policy Director of Mind.

Tom Shakespeare (@TommyShakes) is Professor of Disability Research at International Centre for Evidence in Disability, LSHTM.  He is author, among many books and papers, of Disability Rights and Wrongs (2006). He was formerly at WHO, where he was a co-author/editor of the World Report on Disability.  He has been involved in the disability rights movement for 35 years. He is also author of Sexual Politics of Disability; Disability Rights and Wrongs; and Disability - the Basics.

Kate Stanley (@KateAStanley) serves as Executive Director of FrameWorks UK, the sister organisation to FrameWorks in the US. Kate’s career has focussed on bringing about social change with a particular focus on children and families. From 2011-2020, she was at UK’s largest child protection charity, NSPCC, where she served as a Board Director. Previously, Kate was Deputy Director of the leading thinktank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, where she worked closely with academics and organisations to influence government social policy and practice.

Armine Ishkanian (@Armish15) is Executive Director of the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme at the International Inequalities Institute and Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy. Her research focuses on the relationship between civil society, democracy, development, and social transformation.

More about this event

The International Inequalities Institute (@LSEInequalities) at LSE brings together experts from many LSE departments and centres to lead cutting-edge research focused on understanding why inequalities are escalating in numerous arenas across the world, and to develop critical tools to address these challenges.

The Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme is a Global South-focused, funded fellowship for mid-career activists, policy-makers, researchers and movement-builders from around the world. Based at the International Inequalities Institute, it is a 20-year programme that commenced in 2017 and was funded with a £64m gift from Atlantic Philanthropies, LSE’s largest ever philanthropic donation.

This event forms part of LSE’s Shaping the Post-COVID World initiative, a series imagining what the world could look like after the crisis, and how we get there.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEInequalities

Podcast & Video

A podcast of this event is available to download from Changing the Story on Disability?

A video of this event is available to watch at Changing the Story on Disability?

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.