Photo series will change the way you see people with disabilities
LONDON -- A British learning disability charity has launched a beautiful photo series in the hope of changing the way society views people with learning disabilities.
Acclaimed fashion photographer Rankin, who's photographed the likes of Madonna and HRH the Queen, shot the portraits, which challenge the stereotypes surrounding disabilities.
The series forms part of Mencap's 'Here I Am' campaign that launched Friday to coincide with the release of a survey of public attitudes of people with learning disabilities.
You May Also Like
The survey of 2002 people conducted by Mencap and Ipsos MORI found that a small majority of people did not believe that people with learning disabilities were a "burden" on society, while 40 percent were not sure.
Six percent of those surveyed said they would feel uncomfortable using the same swimming pool as someone with a more severe learning disability.
"Rankin makes you feel at home and it feels like you want to be there and that he's there to support you. And he comes across as funny, a laugh and a joker," Esther Fletcher, who was photographed (pictured below), said in a statement emailed to Mashable.
"Richard and I have been together for a while now. Sadly we’ve both been bullied and targeted because of our learning disability. I had boiling water poured over me once by some school kids," Fletcher said.
Topics Social Good
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
