YDAN

For young people with disability, exclusion rarely arrives as overt hostility. It appears in smaller, familiar ways.

Being congratulated for showing up. Being spoken to slowly. Being praised for resilience when you are simply doing your job.

Hearing, “If you can do this with a disability, anyone can.” Being treated as proof of what’s possible, instead of being treated as a person.

Through the co-design process, disability was defined as complex, layered and intersectional, not visible, singular or static. Young people spoke about the exhaustion of carrying softened narratives and low expectations, even from people who care about them.

They were clear. They did not want pity. They wanted power.

From the outset, this work was shaped through a youth-led co-design process with young people with disability at its centre. The focus was not on crafting the “right” message. It was on unpacking what young disabled people were tired of being reduced to: the tropes, the assumptions, the pressure to be inspiring simply for existing.

What emerged was direct. The real barrier was not disability itself. It was public attitudes and the systems built around them.

Anthologie partnered with YDAN from the outset as a creative and strategic collaborator. YDAN, as a disabled people’s organisation by and for young disabled people, led the vision and authorship throughout.

We participated in the co-design process alongside young people with disability, contributing creative strategy, narrative development and campaign design expertise. The role was not to reinterpret lived experience, but to work with it directly. To test ideas. To refine language. To shape a platform capable of holding its ground in public spaces without losing the clarity that came from the room.

Beyond co-design, we led the development of the campaign platform, shaped the script and messaging framework, and worked with production, sound and media partners to ensure the intent of the work carried consistently from concept through to execution.

Every decision was weighed against a simple question: does this strengthen the message, or dilute it?

Co-design was not a stage in the process. It informed the work end to end.

Deal With It speaks in the first person. Direct. Unfiltered. Proud.

The script sets the tone:

“I’m not here for pity. Not here to inspire you. Not here for your approval. I’m disabled and proud. Deal with it.”

Rather than framing disability as something to overcome, the campaign positions it as identity, experience and expertise. It challenges the language and assumptions that shape everyday behaviour and shifts responsibility for discomfort back onto the viewer.

Visually and verbally, young disabled people are centred as they choose to present themselves. Confident. Ordinary. Proud. The creative avoids cues of tragedy or exceptionalism, reflecting lived experience without apology or mediation.

Deal With It rolls out across digital channels, including short-form online video, audio and targeted digital placements.

Designed for environments where attitudes are shaped and reinforced, the campaign interrupts passive scrolling with clarity rather than subtlety.

Accessibility was embedded from the outset. All video content is captioned. Typography is legible and considered. Sensory safety was prioritised in sound and visual design.

Inclusion was not retrofitted. It was built in.

YDAN’s standards guided every aspect of the work, from language choices to consent, pacing, and on-set protocols. Identity-first language was used as a default. Toxic positivity was actively avoided. Consent was continuous, not assumed.

This was not about representation alone. It was about control, authorship, and respect.

“We’re constantly expected to make other people feel comfortable. This campaign puts that responsibility back where it belongs. It doesn’t explain us away, and it doesn’t apologise for being direct.”

Josh Edge
Executive Creative Director

When disability is framed differently, expectations shift. When expectations shift, behaviour follows.

Deal With It challenges the quiet narratives that sit beneath inclusion. It asks the public to stop projecting, stop romanticising and start seeing disability without limits imposed by perception.

For Anthologie, this project reflects a belief we share with our partners: when lived experience leads and creative expertise is used in service of it, the work carries greater clarity, integrity and impact.