KALAMAZOO, MI — An eye-catching campaign is usually a successful one.

Allison Leece hopes that’s the case with the latest Disability Network Southwest Michigan campaign.

There’s no doubt it’s eye-catching.

This past month, it started popping up on 14-by-48-foot billboards towering over downtown Kalamazoo, and along U.S. 131 and I-94 with a gigantic “#DWord” as the dominant visual. The billboards were made possible by Adams Outdoor Advertising, who donated the space to the nonprofit for 2025.

The idea is to make viewers pause. That’s after all, the intent behind the message, said Leece, the communications and outreach manager with DNSWM.

If people follow the billboard’s suggestion and visit dwordpride.org, they can learn more about the campaign, which states emphatically: “Disability is not a bad word.”

“For a long time, people have shied away from using the term ‘disability’ because they don’t want to be offensive,” Leece said. “People don’t know that it’s an OK thing to talk about disability. So, they use euphemisms or words that make them feel better like special needs or handicap-able.

“We just want people to know that there’s nothing wrong with saying ‘disability.’ The more we talk about it, the more normalized and accepted disability becomes. It’s not a bad thing to have a disability, so just say the word. That’s kind of our goal behind the campaign.”