Why Storytelling for Disability Advocacy Services Should Focus on Emotional Connection
In a world seemingly full of NDIS providers, registered and otherwise, disability advocacy services face the challenge of cutting through the noise to reach potential clients and staff. While facts, figures and logic play their part in advocacy, they alone cannot inspire the kind of passion and commitment that fuels long-term change. One secret to great storytelling lies in emotional connection—a force so powerful it transcends barriers of culture, geography and language. Together we’ll explore why emotional connection could be one of the cornerstones of your storytelling approachs and offer practical strategies for embedding it into your narratives.
The Science Behind Emotional Connection
Storytelling has an innate ability to evoke emotions. This isn’t a coincidence; it’s neuroscience. When people encounter emotionally charged stories, their brains release oxytocin, often referred to as the “bonding hormone.” This chemical fosters trust, empathy and a sense of connection, making audiences more likely to engage with the story. It might even be more than just engaging. There’s some evidence we place ourselves in the positions of the characters in emotionally charged stories. We “live” the experience being narrated.
Whilst data and logic activate the rational part of the brain, emotions engage our decision-making centers. Studies show that people are more likely to act based on how they feel about a cause rather than what they know about it. It would appear from the science, we make decisions emotionally then look for data and logic to back up these emotional decisions. So for disability advocacy services, focusing on emotional connection is not just an option—it’s a necessity for building lasting relationships with potential clients, staff and other interested parties.
Why Emotional Connection Matters for Disability Advocacy Services
Humanising Complex Issues
Many of the issues Disability Advocacy Services address are systemic and complex. For most people, these challenges can feel overwhelming and abstract, making it difficult to connect on a personal level. Emotional storytelling acts as a pathway to guide individuals from minimal knowledge and data overload to passionate supporters.
For example, instead of talking about NDIS funding changes in abstract terms, an advocacy service might share the story of a young woman, let’s call her Paige, whose sister’s music therapy funding was cut. The story then follows Paige through the support your organisation delivered, allowing Paige to advocate for her sister and achieve a desirable outcome for her and her sister. The “Show Don’t Tell” methodology discussed in the last episode: The Human Element
Driving Empathy and Compassion
Empathy is the foundation of connection. Perhaps, and I have no research to back this, only my personal experience, empathy is a marker of a fully mature adult. When audiences feel emotionally connected to a story, they are more likely to empathize with the people involved. An emotionally driven story of the work your service does will be more likely to drive empathy in a listener than a run down of the people supported and their outcomes in a table appended to an annual report.
This needs to be done sympathetically. I would avoid the formulaic structure of WWF, UNHCR and other advertisements with earnest voices from leaders, images of suffering and a call for funds. They just seem to be the same ads whether they’re calling for donations for starving children, cuddly koalas or to prevent plastics reaching the ocean.
Let each person tell their story in their own way. The series from Kin Advocacy, Disability Sunflower Stories is a good example. (Full disclosure, I worked with Kin to produce the series.) The quietly spoken voices of the main characters in each episode are a testimony to their dignity, resolve and ability to effect change. Each story is different but each is powerful.
Inspiring Action, Not Just Awareness
Awareness is essential but it’s only the first step. Emotional storytelling moves people beyond acknowledgment and into action. Stories that elicit strong emotional reactions—joy, hope, anger or even sadness—are more likely to inspire people to act.
The action you’re trying to elicit should be decided upon long before you hit the record button. If you’re looking for more volunteers, show how volunteering both helps with your mission and how it changes the volunteer, for the better. A series of 8 to 10 episodes covering the changes volunteering for your service has made on the individual, their community and the wider culture would be an ideal example.
Crafting Emotionally Resonant Stories
Creating stories that connect emotionally requires care, authenticity and preplanning. Remember the six Ps: Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Poor Performance.
Understand Your Audience
Are you looking for new staff, more clients or volunteers? That’s who your episodes should be focused on. Even if a listener will never be any of those three things, they might know someone who needs your support or is looking for work in a position that matters to them. Word of mouth, the gold standard in podcast growth, is pretty much the gold standard in most promotional activities. You could argue that resharing a FB post is a form of word of mouth but to my mind it’s the equivalent of yelling into the wind during a storm while standing in the middle of a paddock. That is, it’s unlikely to be heard by many people. When your service is recommended by one person to another, the effect is far greater. Understanding this and asking your audience to spread the word to people they think might be interested in your service is a much easier ask if they’ve connected with your storytelling on an emotional level.
Not every audience connects with the same emotions. Some may respond to hope and inspiration, whilst others may be motivated by a sense of injustice or urgency. Research your audience to understand what drives their engagement and tailor your stories accordingly. What drives the people you support? What calls someone to work for and with you? Understanding these drives will give your episodes a focus and a direction.
Words to Use, Approaches to Avoid
Let people use their own words. Let them tell their story, their way. This is especially so in a monolog episode. If you’re going to provide a narrative link between interview sections of tape then set the tone with your language, deliberately. If you don’t give this some thought, the listener will set the tone in their minds and it might not be what you’re attempting to achieve.
The beauty and power of audio is its ability to create pictures in the minds of the listeners. We will construct images in our mind’s eye from our experiences and each one will vary between individuals. This is where audio trumps video every time for emotional connection. By creating our own images we are connecting the story we are listening to directly to our own lived experience. In video the images are supplied and these images will rarely be the same as the images we construct within our minds. On a more superficial level, I’m constantly surprised when podcasters change their artwork to include an image of themselves. Nothing wrong with that, I do it. I’m referring to when they change from not having an image to having one. The picture in my mind’s eye, based upon their voice alone, rarely matches the reality of their face. Let people use their imaginations in your storytelling. Show them just enough so they can build a picture from the audio but not some much you destroy their self created image. They created it, they are more likely to be emotionally connected to it and through it to your story.
Conclusion
To connect with your listeners on an emotional level, choose your words carefully, allow your listener to build an image narrative in their own minds as they connect with the heroes of each episode or season. As covered in episode 2 of this season, The Human Element, focus on the people you serve and support, allow your listeners to know them on some level and thereby connect. Do this with intentionality, respecting the dignity of your clients/staff (let’s call them what they are: Your talent) and your listener and change the world, one episode at a time by speaking to all your listeners individually, all at once.
In the next few episodes I’m going a little more deeply into possible episode/season structures and how to craft a narrative based upon the human element and emotional connection.
In Show Links:
S17E2 ~ The Human Element