Media & Disability

In Hungary, MEOSZ has established a working group comprising mainstream media, advertising companies, disability NGOs, specialised disability media and representatives of the Government. A media analysis has been undertaken on the portrayal of people with disabilities, searching for bad and good examples. A seminar for disability NGos is to be held in April and a seminar for media representatives in June 2007.

In the UK, the main action is to organise a large-scale careers event, trying to promote the employment of skilled disabled people in the media. A working group, comprising BBC, the National Union of Journalists, BCIDN, OfCom, Disability Now, Channel 4 and the Office of Disability Issues has been established to prepare this event which is scheduled for June 2007.

In Germany, abm has produced a very comprehensive action plan, also due to the fact that this NGO is focused on media and disability. A working group will be established as a forum for exchange and collaboration and work will focus on increasing the visibility of disabled people in programmes not related to specific subjects of disability and on improving the treatment of disability in TV dramas. A seminar for media representatives will be held in Aril/May 2007 and the seminar for disability NGOs has already been held.

In Italy, the two main relevant elements are the establishment of a press agency focusing on disability issues and an observatory on media and disability, which has been promoted together with the University of Languages and Communications in Milan.

In Poland, the most relevant action is the organisation of the so-called “Open Eyes” competition, which is a journalist competition devoted to the problems of people with disabilities. The competition is directed to press, radio and TV journalists. Contacts will also be made with the advertisement agencies using the EACA guidelines on portrayal of people with disabilities. Finally, a number of actions are directly targeting NGOs of persons with disabilities.

In Slovenia, the working group will include the national TV and radio, as well as the programme committee at the radio. A national conference will be held on public images and disability

In Spain, the most relevant action is the establishment of a high level Committee on media and disability, including the key people of media, production and advertising industry. This Committee, led by Fundacion ONCE, will produce a manifesto to be adopted by all organisations. Actions with each of the participating organisations will be undertaken bilaterally.

In Sweden, a very comprehensive action plan is being developed, including actions focused on empowering people with disabilities in their use of media (digital storytelling), training of journalists of the Swedish public television, a seminar on media portrayal and a project with students of the main Swedish advertising school on disability and advertising.

The actions in Denmark focus on the portrayal of people with intellectual disabilities, as this is the target group of TV-GLAD.