Hiki and Getty Images Develop AutisticOutLoud, Custom Content to Authentically Represent People with Autism
Hiki is the world’s leading neurodiversity-centric friendship and dating app targeted to people with autism. Today, about 15-20% of the world’s population is regarded as neurodivergent– reflecting a range of ages, races, genders, and nationalities.
Hiki’s mission is to enable this community to connect with each other, especially given that Autistic people are 4x more likely to feel lonely and 3x more likely to commit suicide than others.
Autism is often stigmatized in culture and depicted in media and advertising as a “tragedy.” False assumptions and misinformation have created inaccurate images that misrepresent autistic people.
Hiki sought to reshape these restrictive perceptions and prejudices by leveraging the power and scale of media with the help of Getty Images and the global media agency Mindshare.
To challenge these limiting views, Hiki understood the need to drive genuine representation of the autistic community.
Sef Cavendish, Social Media Coordinator at Hiki, and Rachel Lowenstein, Global Head of Inclusive Innovation at Mindshare, discuss #AutisticOutLoud, an advocacy campaign with Hiki and Getty Images that combats stereotypes with self-portraits of autistic creators representing themselves.
The portraits are available for public use on the Getty Disability Collection and Unsplash. Google’s Neu Project and IBM’s Weather Company are among the partners showcasing the images.
Sef Cavendish, Social Media Coordinator at Hiki, and Rachel Lowenstein, Global Head of Inclusive Innovation at Mindshare, discuss #AutisticOutLoud, an advocacy campaign with Hiki and Getty Images that combats stereotypes with self-portraits of autistic creators representing themselves.
The portraits are available for public use on the Getty Disability Collection and Unsplash. Google’s Neu Project and IBM’s Weather Company are among the partners showcasing the images.
To learn more from Sef Cavendish, Social Media Coordinator at Hiki, and Rachel Lowenstein, Global Head of Inclusive Innovation at Mindshare, discuss #AutisticOutLoud, watch the video interview on Internationalist Marketing TV (IMTV) on YouTube by CLICKING HERE.
#AutisticOutLoud
#AutisticOutLoud is a Custom Content initiative to increase the authentic representation of autistic people through the community’s lens. By bringing in content creators and photographers who identify as autistic, the #AutisticOutLoud project features a curated gallery of images and videos that deliver new visual content depicting the resiliency and diversity of the autistic community.
Using their combined expertise, Hiki and Getty Images tasked ten autistic content creators with creating self-portraits that captured their authentic, personal experiences. By having creators take self-portraits, they represent themselves most authentically and combat existing media representation unfairly speaking on behalf of the autistic community. These creators became part of Getty Images’ global contributor network.
As a leading visual content provider, Getty Images was an ideal partner as this initiative builds on their work to represent the disability community at large accurately. The content created from #AutisticOutLoud lives on Getty Images’ Disability Collection and Unsplash, and is available for commercial use by media platforms and publishers worldwide to help drive awareness in the industry. Not only can brands commercially license the content from this curated gallery, but a portion of the gallery is also royalty-free through Unsplash, meaning that any blogger or small business can access this work.
“The autistic community is not a monolith,” says Jamil Karriem, Founder and CEO of Hiki. “Yet in media and entertainment, they’re often infantilized or stereotyped as savants with a voice that typically centers the experience of white males. At Hiki, our mission is to connect all people across the autistic community and give them a place to honor and validate their identities and lived experiences. A crucial part is for the autistic community to be seen for their tremendous differences and nuances as unique individuals.”
In our conversation, we discuss the following:
- Let’s start by talking a little about Hiki and why this friendship and dating app is so important for the Autistic community. Also, tell us about Hiki’s origins.
- Is there a lot of misinformation or mischaracterizations of those across the autism spectrum?
- Hiki worked with Getty Images to combat problematic stereotypes through a content initiative called #AutisticOutLoud. Would you tell us more about this and how you’re trying to reshape how the media represents the community?
- Tell us more about the Creator Self-Portraits… and how you encouraged people to participate.
- AutisticOutLoud was launched at Cannes last year. What was the reaction? And did it affect how you moved forward with the initiative?
- Describe your media campaign and tell us about the results. I understand that you convinced several platforms to embrace this work… and even the United Nations endorsed the program via their Unstereotype Alliance…
- What’s next for Hiki?
Hiki is working with a cross-agency WPP team led by global media agency network Mindshare, which has led the partnership with Getty Images. The WPP team also includes agencies VMLY&R and Set Creative, which work on creative branding, strategy, and more.
Within eight weeks of the campaign launch, #AutisticOutLoud visuals were downloaded over 300,000 times and viewed 35 million times. As a result of the campaign, Hiki’s app experienced sustained platform growth, with 50,000 new members joining within six months of campaign completion. These numbers are a testament to the power of authentic representation and the impact it can have on a community.
More importantly, some of the top search keywords for #AutisticOutLoud included Autism, ADHD, and neurodiversity, which means that now, when people are searching for images that represent Autism, they are finding images that genuinely represent the Autistic community.
Partnering with Getty Images expands the reach and impact of the campaign, allowing for widespread distribution and commercial use of the curated gallery of images and videos. By centering on autistic expressions and experiences, the campaign reshapes media narratives to be more representative and inclusive, empowering the autistic community to reclaim their narrative.
AutisticOutLoud has won both the Internationalist Awards for Innovation in Media and The Internationalist’s Marketing Makes a World of Difference Awards.
What is autism?
Being autistic does not mean you have an illness or disease. It means your brain works in a different way from other people. It’s something you’re born with. Signs of autism might be noticed when you’re very young, or not until you’re older. Being autistic does not have to stop you having a good life.
What is neurodivergent?
A person is considered neurodivergent if they have been diagnosed with a developmental or learning disorder, such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, or Tourette’s syndrome. Anyone may decide to consider themselves neurodivergent if they have no diagnosis but think, behave, or interact in ways that are outside the norm.
Many people who are neurodivergent are accomplished and successful. More people who are neurodivergent are talking about their experiences.
Some examples of famous and successful people who are neurodivergent include:
- Oscar-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins.
- Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles.
- Climate activist Greta Thunberg.
- Animal scientist and author Temple Grandin.
- Musician and singer Florence Welch.
