Disability Rights UK is led by, run by and working for Disabled people. It works with Disabled People’s Organisations and government across the UK for better rights, benefits, quality of life and economic opportunities for Disabled people. In late 2022 it had a clear gap: young people. Young Disabled people had lived through Covid, climate anxiety and the cost of living crisis, and DR UK wanted to engage with them online and meet them where they already spend their time.
DR UK had chosen TikTok and sketched its first ideas, and asked us to deepen them into a full strategy its team could act on. The strategy notes that 96% of people viewing Disabled TikTok content are under 35. The aim was to become the first organisation a young Disabled person thinks of when they want to know their rights or challenge inequality, on a platform that rewards trend-chasing, when simply reacting to trends isn’t who DR UK is.
We started from the organisation’s own principle, nothing about us without us, and built the strategy around four goals: empowering through education, building community, leading change and redefining disability. The content puts Disabled people at the forefront and uplifts Disabled voices to challenge limiting stereotypes.
Three content pillars set the balance. Education takes half the content: practical guidance, policy explainers and the support young Disabled people may not know they’re entitled to. Engagement, at 30%, uses trends to show everyday Disabled experience in a light-hearted way. Empowerment, at 20%, invites people into campaigning and DR UK’s Young Voices programme. Trends are only used when they fit the organisation’s values.
The tone of voice keeps DR UK recognisable on a new platform: conversational rather than a one-way lecture, warm, and inclusive of the whole Disabled community, ending even difficult topics on something constructive.
A practical playbook the team could pick up and film from. It sets out the profile and bio, “Disabled people leading change, working for equal participation for all”, alongside best practice for filming naturally, replying to comments and pointing viewers back to DR UK’s website.
Accessibility is built into the basics: captions on every video, visual descriptions in the comments and content warnings where needed. Worked example posts, each with a goal, shot, on-screen text, script and caption, cover the Disabled Students Helpline, the Leadership Academy Programme, recruitment for Young Voices and three simple ways to support DR UK’s work.
The strategy shortlists Disabled creators, activists and fellow Disabled People’s Organisations to partner with, with content ideas for each, from “What I wish I knew” videos to one-day #DRYoungVoices takeovers. Recurring series such as #KnowYourRights and #LiftDisabledVoices give the account a shape, and a hashtag set helps the right people find it.
A rolling three-month content plan runs from an introductory post in January to explainers on Disabled Students’ Allowance in March, with space left to react to policy news and trends as they happen.
Outfly, a London brand, marketing and product agency, created a TikTok strategy for Disability Rights UK in 2022. It covers goals, content pillars, tone of voice, accessibility basics, worked example posts, creator partnership ideas, series ideas and a three-month content plan.
Disability Rights UK’s strategy leads with education, giving half of all content to practical guidance, policy explainers and rights information, and only joins trends that fit the organisation’s values. Light-hearted, trend-led posts make up 30% and show everyday Disabled experience.
Young Disabled people aged around 16 to 30. The strategy notes that 96% of people viewing Disabled TikTok content are under 35, so the platform is where many of the young people Disability Rights UK wanted to reach already are.
It asks for captions on every video, visual descriptions in the comments and content warnings where they apply, with a real person presenting and images and bullet points making complex information easier to follow.
