Media & Disability

• Home page
• Presentation
• Partners
• Guide on media & disability
  • Who Created this Guide?
  • Disabled People as Programme Participants
  • Employing Disabled People
    • Recruiting Staff for Programme-Making Roles
    • Presenters
    • Legal Issues
  • Access to Broadcast Services
  • Communicating with Disabled People
  • Adjustments and Aids for People Specific Disabilities
  • Glossary of Terms
• Project Development
• Legislation
• Resources
• Interesting Links
• News

Guide on media & disability

Presenters

Team Work

Although about 15-20% of the population is disabled, or is close to someone with a disability, there may be people in your production team who are unsure about how to relate to someone who is disabled. It will help if you encourage your team to be positive and not to dwell on any potential problems. They might find it helpful to talk over any concerns such as:

• The language they might use or avoid when talking with a disabled person, and what it is OK to ask about as people get to know each other (see also the Section on Communicating with Disabled People)
• Any fears and emotional issues which people often feel uncomfortable discussing
• Appropriate behaviour - how and when to offer assistance
• Any need to adjust schedules to take account of any possible extra time involved
• Feeling “put upon” - you are all probably over-stretched and some members of the team may worry that they are going to be asked to do even more. However good team working means making adjustments for everyone, not just disabled people.

All the disabled people with successful media careers we talked to advised us that teams should not worry unduly. Once they meet your disabled recruit the chances are that their anxieties will soon disappear. Treat your recruit with the sort of respect and consideration anyone is entitled to. If you want advice on if and when to help them, and when not to, just ask them!

If you are working on a long-term project, you and your team may benefit from disability awareness training that deals honestly with how people respond to disability, and will help you develop a greater understanding of the issues.

Training non-disabled staff

Broadcasters can assist their employees to become more confident about working with disabled people by providing relevant training.

• Provide disability awareness training for all staff involved in disability access services.
• Provide training for all human resources staff involved in recruitment.
• Provide training to commissioning editors and producers on disability portrayal.
• Provide training to producers, editors and presenters in techniques to describe programme content.
• Train all staff in disability awareness by using a distance-learning workbook with information on how to make reasonable adjustments, communication etc.
• Provide a regular website accessibility training workshop to all staff working on websites.