Wayne Drew

The importance of ability media

The communication industries are central to how we define ourselves within a civil society. They impact on how we construct our aspirations, responsibilities, goals and even our individual and collective identities.

The role of communicators, whether in corporate or mainstream production, in how they represent the true natures and abilities of people from under represented groups, is central to this and vitally important.

However what is presently being achieved is often very disappointing. If the portrayal of race and gender has improved a little, that of people with differing physical abilities, has not. How they manage their differences is often presented as “problems” which have to be “dealt with” or patronising “success stories” to be “celebrated,” rather than simply totally natural parts of life.

Such portrayals are neither sensitive to the dignity of the individual nor are they remotely helpful in promoting a more inclusive society. Moreover they ignore the fundamental fact that most people have infinitely more things in common with each other than their differences.

That is why I became involved in Ability Media, proposed today’s Awards, and have structured a board of leading media figures who are devoting much time and practical support to assist the project and make real its extraordinary ambitions.

We want the media industries to change and change quickly. To achieve this we need improved training so that skilled, creative and technically equipped people, from diverse communities, will have the opportunity to enter mainstream and corporate production.

No, they are not expected to be more brilliant or creative, or offer more profound insights, than the existing workforce. But simply by being there, they will demonstrate they are just like everyone else and can contribute just as much to a company’s creative or financial success. And this in turn should lead to amore inclusive, sensible and realistic portrayal of our society.

What Leonard Cheshire Disability is aiming to achieve is truly remarkable and its impact on creating positive attitude change will be profound indeed if the Ability Media project receives the backing it really deserves.

Wayne Drew FRSA FIVCA