The Dear Everybody campaign was started by Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital to raise awareness of disability stigma and promote inclusion. It uses social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube to share stories and statistics about the discrimination faced by those with disabilities. The campaign asks people to sign an agreement demanding more diverse representation in media and to take actions to reduce stigma. While it has been successful in raising local awareness, the campaign aims to have a wider national impact through more frequent posting of new content on social platforms.

1. The
#DearEverybody
Campaign
How Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation
Hospital’s Dear Everybody campaign
became national movement using social
media
Prepared by Jasbinder Kaur Sidhu

2. What is it?
Dear Everybody is a national movement started by Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in partnership with
kids and youth to raise awareness of disability stigma.
This movement is launched to raise awareness about the stigma faced by kids and young adults with disabilities since
stigma is a barrier in their healthy future. The campaign also calls people to take actions to create a more inclusive,
equitable society.
We want to change hearts and minds about disability and more importantly, get people to take
action to create a more inclusive, equitable society – say the creators of the campaign
"Dear Everybody Campaign."

3. Disability stigma: cause of difficult future for kids and youth with disabilities
Why the campaign?
 Disability stigma involves barriers, bias and
stereotypes which directly cause different attitudes
and behaviours towards people with disabilities.
 Kids and youngsters with disabilities regularly face
such consequences of stigma like staring,
whispers, name-calling, social exclusion, bullying
and outright discrimination.
 These consequences are often ignored. As these
kids grow, they face lower employment prospects
and income levels compared to their peers
without disabilities.
With nearly 120 years of experience supporting children and youth with disabilities, Holland Bloorview strongly
felt the need for creating this campaign to change people’s perceptions about disability and to urge them to
create an inclusive society for a better future of these kids.
"About Dear Everybody”

4. The statistics and day-to-day reality paint a troubling picture for youth with disabilities.
The campaign shared some of the major stats and facts to showcase the importance of equity, diversity, inclusion
and acceptance on various social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
A few of the stats listed below:
 The Canadian Human Rights Commission notes disability is by far (59 per cent)
the most citied reason for discrimination by people in Canada.
 One study shows that more than half (53 per cent) of kids with a disability have
zero or only one close friend.
 Kids with disabilities are 2 to 3 times more likely to be bullied than kids without
disabilities.
 Less than half (49 per cent) of Canadians with disabilities ages 25 to 64 are
employed compared to 79 per cent for Canadians without a disability.
 25 per cent of kids with disabilities under 15 in Canada have unmet educational
needs.
 24 per cent live in poverty compared to only 15 per cent of children without
disabilities under 18 years.
 One-third of people with disabilities in the labour market say they have been
denied a job because of their disability, and 24 per cent say they have been
denied a job interview.
 Median incomes for Canadians with disabilities are 34 per cent (almost $10,000)
less than the incomes of Canadians without disabilities.
Adapted from Levy

5. Demanding advertisers and brands to include diverse representation in the media
The campaign asks people to visit DearEverybody.ca to:
 Sign the Dear Everybody agreement and demand that advertisers and brands include diverse representation
in the media they produce.
 Share the campaign images to challenge the existing media landscape that lacks disability representation with
hashtags #DearEverybody and @HBKidsHospital
 Become an ally: download tip sheets, read position paper, check out videos and review the resources that
provide concrete steps that one can take to end stigma.
"About Dear Everybody”

6. Power in social media recognized by the creators to kick-start the campaign
FACEBOOK INSTAGRAM TWITTER
@UofT, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital

7. Streaming videos on YouTube brought attention of many on social media
YOUTUBE
VIDEOS
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital

8. All the social media posts used the hashtag #DearEverybody tagging @HBKidsHospital
Directing users to sign the agreement and donate on the website deareverybody.ca
SHARE TAB
DONATION TAB
"About Dear Everybody”

9. The outcome of the campaign: extensive reach on media, people’s & celebrities blogs/ posts
NEWSCHANNELS
YOUTUBE
CELEBRITYPOSTS
TWITTER
FUNDRAISER

10. The real outcome of any campaign: practicality in action
TALKSHOWSTRUE INCLUSION
@Egruenwoldt, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital

11. Overall the campaign is performing well with resultant increase in awareness locally
 The campaign has performed well on different
social media
 Largest impact observed on Twitter and YouTube
 Local impact is being observed on a greater scale
 But not a wider geography
 A campaign like this is successful only if the
objectives of it are met. In this case, true inclusion
and awareness among common people was
observed to some extent
 Need to post fresh and more content frequently
 More frequent Facebook and Instagram posts
might be more encouraging to the target
audience
 Content might include videos on success stories
involving passion, courage, determination,
emotions on the way to inclusive society

12. Sources:
1. "Dear Everybody Campaign." Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, https://www.hollandbloorview.ca/get-involved-give/dear-everybody-campaign. Accessed 1
February 2020.
2. "About Dear Everybody”, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, https://deareverybody.hollandbloorview.ca/about/#.Xjr9hmhKjIV. Accessed 1 February 2020.
3. Levy, Joel. "Dear Everybody Campaign to raise awareness of disability stigma." Toronto Guardian, September 4, 2018, https://torontoguardian.com/2018/09/dear-
everybody-campaign/. Accessed 1 February 2020.
4. "About Dear Everybody: Sign”, Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, https://deareverybody.hollandbloorview.ca/. Accessed 1 February 2020.
5. Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. Dear Everybody is coming to school near you. Facebook, 23 January 2020, 13:00,
https://www.facebook.com/HBKRH/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARDGe-v9NCrru5lWWQU46JXVGCUlTatNiI6cDYHjlCCcWES1m1x3hK9jldTCbbIbbZ42szWsH-zBEMju.
Accessed 1 February 2020.
6. @UofT. ".@UTM alum @GeorgeAlevizos_ dropped by @CTV's @YourMorning with @BenMulroney to talk about the #DearEverybody campaign & why its’ so important.
#UofT http://bit.ly/2ZxQA1E." Twitter, Day Month Year of Tweet, Time of Tweet, URL.
7. Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. "Dear Everybody,." YouTube, uploaded by Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, 28 August 2017,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKnqpW2A4ao. Accessed 1 February 2020.
8. Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. " This is what a storyteller looks like." YouTube, uploaded by Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, 27 August 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv8YpU-qrUc. Accessed 1 February 2020.
9. @EGruenwoldt. " On my drive this morning (in OTTAWA), was thrilled to hear #DearEverybody campaign promoted locally. Thanks to @HBKidsHospital for taking a
national leadership role to change the discourse and reduce stigma associated with disabilities.." Twitter, 18 November 2019, 9:46 AM,
https://twitter.com/EGruenwoldt/status/1196439459333640197.

13. THANK YOU