Guidance for Depicting Animals With Disabilities

Animals with disabilities play a vital role in society, offering powerful opportunities for representation and education. However, when their stories are inadequately or inaccurately represented, it can reinforce misconceptions and hinder public understanding of disability. While tools and framewortoolks exist to guide conversations about people with disabilities, there are no equivalent resources for discussing animals with disabilities. To address this, a team of disability scholars and zoo professionals in the US, many of whom have lived experience with congenital or acquired physical or cognitive disabilities, collaborated to develop best practices for framing these conversations based on recommendations from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The adoption of this guide can enhance positive perceptions of animals and people with disabilities.