´óÏó´«Ã½

So why, if disabled people have a spending power totalling £80 billion, are we not included in more of the advertisements? Aren't we the perfect people that these ads should be aiming at? We have money, and we spend it, so if our cash is good enough to buy products, don't we deserve to be in the adverts for them? Or are there just not attractive enough disabled people?

For me, there are two different and distinct areas of advertising. The first - and the one that really annoys me - are those ads designed for the disability market, selling specific equipment or services that are there to make our lives better. The second area of advertising includes just about everything else that is marketed to the rest of the world.

I hate the fact that there are still some companies (although less than there used to be) who sell disability products but don't always use genuine disabled people in the poster and magazine campaigns. A couple of years ago, I actually got to meet a PR man who worked for such a company, and he seemed shocked that I was so upset about the use of able-bodied 'models'. He even tried to argue that it was pretty hard to find disabled models who understood the 'business'. Well, there never will be unless companies use them.

He also seemed mystified that I could tell which adverts were genuine and which were set up. To me, it was a bit like asking: "How do you know that the Black and White Minstrels weren't genuine black people?" Duh ... you just know. People simply don't look like they do in the ads if they are long-term wheelchair users. The chairs aren't set up like that, your legs don't look like that, and if you are female and have cripply feet you don't wear knee-length skirts (unless you're willing to flash your pants to the world). You'll also need three hours to keep picking up your court shoes when they fall off.

So why do we keep buying equipment from companies that don't use disabled people in their adverts? Is it that most disabled people aren't bothered, or that there is so little choice out there that we can't afford (either through choice or money) to make such ethical decisions? Or is that we are all guilty of just buying in to the marketing myth in another way?

In advertising, we are being sold a lifestyle. We want to believe that if we buy a particular product then we will have a happy life, a perfect relationship, men will give us flowers, and everything will be OK. Size 8 girls are used to advertise jeans, and many of us would like to think that by buying them, we too will have a flat stomach and great legs. (Yes, I know that I will never look quite like that, but I think I'm a sitting down version of her!) Would I buy jeans if I thought that I looked cripply or ugly or fat? The answer is no.

This argument also carries through to disability equipment. If I buy that special piece of equipment, will I look more like a normal person using it rather than a disabled one, because that's what the advert showed me? Would I buy it if I saw someone with a severe impairment using it? Well, I would like the opportunity to make that choice.

Why can't we have people who are smart and gorgeous, but who also have a more visible impairment? There are plenty around, after all. Will there ever be a time when a mainstream clothing company is brave enough to use such models? Some sports gear brands have dabbled, but only when it suits their other marketing policies and - if I'm being cynical - when they could also do with some good PR. But too many companies would be frightened of trying out disabled people as the faces of their campaigns, because of their worry that the market will recoil and run away in fear.

Just when I thought things had moved on, I realise that we've still not gone far enough. Companies stay safe with the visually impaired models or the leg amputees, who are often seen as the comfortable and non-threatening side of disability. They bring in the brownie points, but they don't send people running.

I don't sit and dream of accessible buses and full access to goods and services (although that would be nice). No, I know that we will only be truly included when I can go in to my local trendy shop and see a real disabled person advertising the clothes.