Media & Disability
Guide on media & disability
Employing Disabled People in Programme-Making Roles
The Aim of This Guide
The aim of this guide is to provide you with some ideas and practical ways so that you can be more successful at finding and working with disabled people as colleagues, that is, as fellow programme-makers. We need to encourage many more disabled people into the industry, by offering them work placements and training opportunities, by including more disabled people on-screen to act as role models and by ensuring that the recruitment processes we use do not discriminate against disabled people.
The guidelines set out here are only guidelines to give you some ideas on how to get started on employing disabled people. The more experience you have of meeting and working with disabled people the less worried you will be about hiring and working alongside them. It’s unwise to generalise about disabled people (just as it’s unwise to generalise about women) because each disabled person has his or her own experience. You need to take an individual’s disability into account when hiring and employing, but generally speaking, if you treat a disabled person like any other employee or contributor, you won’t go far wrong.
What Stops You from Working with Disabled People?
Disabled people can and do work in our industry. They are as productive and as safe and reliable as any other employees. (In fact the evidence from a number of surveys of managers from a range of businesses showed that the attendance record and job performance of disabled people was at least the same, or better, than that of other employees.) However, there are plenty of good people out there who haven’t had a chance to show their skills. Problem solving is the one of the main tasks of programme-making. Both producers and disabled people are used to making things happen despite any number of problems, so together, with a positive outlook, any challenge can be met. Surveys also consistently conclude that organisations that successfully employ disabled people are keen to employ more.
Why You Should Work More Often With Disabled People
There are good business reasons for you to hire disabled people. They are numerous (an average 15-20% of the population) and are increasingly significant as consumers. All kinds of businesses are beginning to recognise that they cannot afford to ignore the needs and interests of disabled people. What broadcaster, in an increasingly competitive climate, can afford to overlook such a large percentage of listeners and viewers? Just as women viewers and listeners are better catered for when women are employed as programme makers, commissioning editors and senior broadcasting managers, so are the needs and interests of disabled viewers and listeners when they themselves are reflected in the workforce.
There are also the legal considerations. When recruiting staff you should ensure that your employment procedures comply with disability discrimination legislation, and that you do not exclude or
discriminate against disabled people.
Finally there can be no moral justification for excluding such a significant and substantial section of the population from access to work, and from portrayal on-screen and on-air. In this respect, disability is no different from gender or race. It should be possible for people with disabilities to be employed in every aspect and at every level of programme-making in the industry, and to be thoroughly integrated throughout the production process. Broadcasters such as the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) now employ significant numbers of disabled people in a wide variety of production and non- production jobs.
Senior editors and programme commissioners are critical gatekeepers to improving the representation of disabled people on-screen. They are uniquely placed to encourage producers to make more effort to employ disabled people as reporters, presenters, crew and so on.
It is worth asking yourself whether you are denying yourself access to the full range of talent, ideas and experience available.