Kurio Hijacks Inspirational Quotes for the Healthcare of Women with Disabilities

A new campaign by Missing Billion Initiative turns inspirational quotes into dis-inspirational ones to highlight the challenges women with disabilities face. It was created and executed by Kurio, a SAMY Alliance agency.

A global problem that weighs on women

1 in 6 people live with a disability. Too often they go unseen by the healthcare system. And in 2025, the world is ever harder on people with disabilities with the decline in DEI practices.

The Missing Billion Initiative is an NGO working towards a change in health systems – to better serve the billion people with disabilities. Their latest report sheds a light on the challenges for a specific subgroup: women living with disabilities.

· Women living with disabilities receive poor treatment 2x as often, compared to women without disabilities

· Women living with disabilities are 50% less likely to feel they have good health, compared to women without disabilities

· Women living with disabilities have 10-20 years shorter life expectancy, compared to women without disabilities

“Women face significant inequalities in healthcare. So do people with disabilities. For women living with disabilities, these challenges are multiplied,” said Mari Tikkanen, co-founder of the Missing Billion Initiative. “It’s time to transform our health systems to serve everyone, not just the majority.”

Missing Billion Initiative is all about making a sustainable change. This happens by getting governments on board. But political shift needs grassroots support, so the objective for the report launch was clear: to engage women with disabilities and supercharge awareness.

Hijacking a better-life platform

“Being a pro bono campaign, there wasn’t a chance for media placements”, comments Jari Lähdevuori, the executive creative director of Kurio, the agency partner of the Missing Billion Initiative. “We wanted an approach that would have a viral potential on social media. An approach that was born and bred on social.”

Kurio found a perfect social-first platform: inspirational quotes. Even though there is nothing inspirational in the health system for women with disabilities – or, just because.

To spark change we hijacked a medium that is all about change. A medium known to everyone – with or without disabilities.

Kurio called it: Dis-Inspirational Quotes – by Women With Disabilities.

Crafting in a co-creation manner

“Nothing about us without us” is the mantra that we wanted to live up to. A community of women with disabilities co-created the quotes – turning the facts from academic research into a very special kind of inspirational quotes. Such as:

· LIVE. LAUGH. DIE. 20 YEARS EARLIER THAN EXPECTED. (Fact: Women with disabilities have 10-20 years shorter life expectancy)

· CARPE DIABETES. (Fact: Women living with disabilities have 3x higher likelihood of diabetes)

· EVERY DAY IS A SECOND CHANCE – TO RECEIVE POOR MEDICAL TREATMENT (Fact: Women living with disabilities receive poor treatment 2x as often)

Kurio had Laura Loukola, a female artist with a disability, to craft the visuals. We put it all on a pinterest board, naturally. And its namesake instagram account, too.

On the week of the report’s launch, the Dis-Inspirational Quotes were shared on flyers and posters at two important healthcare events: Skoll World Forum in Oxford, and Global Disability Summit in Berlin.