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Tackling disability stigma

Lessons and guidance on reducing stigma in international development projects.

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Stigma and discrimination deny people with disabilities their basic human rights every day.

Too often, stigma acts as a barrier to prevent people with disabilities from engaging in or benefiting equally from international development.

Inclusive Futures’ learning on stigma showcases what we did – and didn’t – do to reduce disability-related stigma in our projects. We invite governments, organisations of people with disabilities (OPDs) and the development community to build on our learning – to break down the barriers caused by stigma, and pave the way for a world where everyone can access quality health care, education and employment.

Absalom hugs his daughter Irene. They're both smiling.
Absalom, a father who received training in positive parenting skills thanks to our project in Kenya, with his daughter Irene.
A man using a wheelchair points to a letter on an eye test chart.

A man using a wheelchair points to a letter on an eye test chart.

“Have you ever walked into a place full of people and everyone turns to look at you? When will we learn to accept everyone the way they are? And how can we overcome the stigma attached to being someone with disabilities?”

Elizabeth, peer researcher, Kenya

What is stigma?

Stigma is a social process that leads to the marginalisation of individuals or groups of people. It changes across contexts and can be intersectional – affecting people with intersecting identities in different ways.

There are different types of stigma:

  • Social stigma: Negative attitudes held by people in society about people with disabilities, often shaped by culture and context. Also called public stigma.
  • Internalised stigma: Feelings of low self-esteem, shame, negative self-belief and internalised oppression, which can result in self-isolation, for people with disabilities. Also called self-stigma.
  • Stigma-by-association: The stigma experienced by people based on their connection with a person with a disability, such as family members. Also called affiliate stigma.
  • Structural stigma: Systems including laws, policies, organisations and the media, which embed or promote stigmatising attitudes or actions about people with disabilities.
Inclusion champion Ramatu holds up an illustration during an inclusive family planning workshop in Nigeria.

Inclusion champion Ramatu holds up an illustration during an inclusive family planning workshop in Nigeria.

“Since I was given the role of inclusive champion in the community, it has shown to me that I can do anything. I have the right to move around. I have the right to say whatever that I know is my right to say, how to claim it. So it makes me bring the women on board, to join me.”

Ramatu, inclusion champion, Nigeria

Four lessons for reducing stigma

1.Understand stigma as a barrier to inclusion. Work with people with disabilities to understand what stigma means for them, how it operates as a barrier to inclusion, and why it is important to address. Remember that stigma is intersectional and contextual, so people’s experiences will differ.

2. Map out who you need to influence. Plan who to engage and how to measure stigma in your project. Be open to working with a range of actors, including people with disabilities, as well as caregivers, community members and people in positions of influence.

3. Target activities to reduce different types of stigma. When designing disability inclusion activities, include topics related to stigma reduction. Make these topics relevant and engaging to the audience, the type of stigma you are aiming to address, and the context. Activities need to empower people with disabilities, target people in positions of power, and facilitate community dialogue.

4. Partner with people with lived experience. Meaningfully engage people with disabilities and OPDs to ensure your project captures and responds to their experiences of stigma. Any engagement should sustain or strengthen OPD capacity, reasonably accommodate everyone, and integrate feedback and learning.

What we’ve learned

Find out more about what works to tackle disability stigma in development and humanitarian projects.

Read the PDF
Two women work in a leafy garden. One of the women guides the woman, who is digging a hole in the earth.

Two women work in a leafy garden. One of the women guides the woman, who is digging a hole in the earth.

“One day, I met a parent who revealed that she also had a child with disabilities but was hiding him at home. I invited her to join our support group for mothers of children with disabilities. Now, she is a champion advocating for the rights of other children in her community.”

Joan, mother and caregiver, Kenya

Using radio drama to tackle disability stigma

In Nigeria, Inclusive Futures used a long-running BBC radio drama, with a listenership of 20 million people in Africa, as a vehicle to address discrimination against people with disabilities.

‘Story Story’ was broadcast on 225 radio stations in six states across Nigeria, reaching approximately 3.9 million adults, including more than 750,000 people with disabilities. 25% of listeners said they had done something differently after listening to the programme – from being kinder towards people with disabilities to stopping discriminatory behaviour.

Watch the video to see how our project in Nigeria has changed attitudes about people with disabilities.

Further resources

A group of women wearing hijabs talk during an inclusive family planning workshop in Nigeria.

Let’s talk about sex: inclusive family planning in northern Nigeria

An innovative project is changing community attitudes and supporting women with disabilities to access services.
A woman smiling.

Covering disability in the media: why language matters

Disability rights advocate Liz Ombati explains why it’s time for the media to accurately portray people with disabilities.
An eye doctor is pointing to a list of letters as a man in a wheelchair reads them out as part of an eye test.

What does behaviour change have to do with inclusion?

Three Inclusive Futures projects have trialled different ways to tackle stigma and discrimination.

Julius and Najiba stand outside their home in Uganda with their two young children. Julius is holding a white cane.

Inclusive sexual and reproductive health resources

Practical steps for including people with disabilities in family planning information and services.
A group of female farmers sit in a semi-circle and having a discussion.

Using media and community engagement to drive inclusion

How an Inclusive Futures project in Kenya used local media and community action to tackle stigma and foster workplace inclusion.

Find out more about Inclusive Futures

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Inclusive Futures are specialists and global leaders in disability and development from more than 20 global organisations.

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