Purple. It鈥檚 a colour historically associated with royalty, faith, vanity, creativity and even mourning. But in recent times, it鈥檚 become associated with the disability agenda across the world, without anyone really knowing why.
It got me thinking about the power of colour, how it鈥檚 used to create and unite movements all around the world and how people with disabilities have started to tap into this to create a movement for real and sustainable social change.
Many social causes are linked to a specific colour and many of them are so well known that they鈥檙e embedded in our consciousness; for example, think pink for breast cancer, red for AIDS/ HIV, and green for the environment. For these causes, the link has become strong enough that people use those colours as a way of representing themselves.
And, while not a single colour, the use of the rainbow by LGBT people is a way of signalling that they are part of a group of people with a shared identity, shared experiences and a shared sense of what they need to progress in life. A unified community.
It鈥檚 clear, therefore, that colour has a really important role to play in bringing people together and, while many colours are used for multiple causes, it鈥檚 less important what the colour is, or whether it鈥檚 being used for other reasons, and more important that those associating themselves with the colour, feel connected.
In our ever disconnected and increasingly diverse world, the power of聽colour to help us connect to and feel part of a community and know that we鈥檙e not alone cannot be overlooked. It鈥檚 the reason why, I believe, so many of the colour-based movements have been so successful.
However, purple is still not fully synonymous with disability, and so I鈥檝e been thinking about what we can do to start to bring everyone together to embed it in the minds of people with disabilities, their allies and the general public.
Disability is such a wide spectrum of conditions, experiences and abilities and so it can be really hard to have a sense of collective togetherness. The colour purple can change that. Without saying anything, it provides the glue that binds people together, that creates a sense of community and says more than a word ever could.
Where there has already been traction, it鈥檚 coming from organisations using purple as their calling card, embedding it into their brand and encouraging others to adopt purple into their own personal brand. Organisations like PurpleSpace haven鈥檛 just taken purple to the core of their brand but are working tirelessly to unlock the power and value that come with building a movement for real, sustained and valuable change.
So, what could we all be doing to get purple embedded as the colour for the disability agenda?
- Share and promote some of the brilliant campaigns or movements championing purple in the disability agenda. Coming soon is the UK Purple Tuesday campaign in November, aimed at the retail industry; and then the global #PurpleLightUp movement, ignited by employee networks, which takes place on 3 December, encouraging everyone to take part. Promote these campaigns and movements, and ensure that we share and talk about the positive narratives being encouraged by these transformative conversations.
- Add purple subtly when you鈥檙e talking about disability in your communications 鈥� whether it鈥檚 blogs, vlogs, publications, posters, videos, leaflets or anything else. Whenever you鈥檙e talking about disability, make it purple!
- Label it purple 鈥� as well as using purple when talking about disability, look for opportunities to drop 鈥榩urple鈥� into conversations, writing and talks. Whether it鈥檚 talking about the 鈥榩urple pound鈥� (the value of disabled consumer spending power), purple talent (disabled talent) or whatever else you want to brand purple. The more we talk it about it, the more it will become embedded.
We can all help to speed things up and grow the purple community. Want to know more about 鈥榳hy purple?鈥�. PurpleSpace, the world鈥檚 only professional development hub for disability network leaders, has produced a short video to explain why purple. Check it out at where you can also find more information about the global movement, #PurpleLightUp powered by PurpleSpace.
David Caldwell is a Digital Accessibility Manager at Barclays and a Founding Ambassador of PurpleSpace聽