Working with editors, producers, reporters, camera people and other journalists

Something else I see happen quite a lot is this: a story has clearly been well researched and deeply reported, and clearly it involved disabled sources from the beginning. There are a variety of visuals, the copy is stereotype-free, and the resulting story is nuanced, accurate and emotionally affecting. Unfortunately, the hard work the journalist has put into the story is undermined because the headline and other display information use ableist tropes. Those tropes end up being what is talked about on the internet and in the disability community. People on social media tell the reporter not to use such stereotypes, and the journalist can respond only by saying they have no control over how their text is displayed.

Depending on the setup of your newsroom, the person responsible for display might not have had anything to do with the story until they had to publish it. Editors and producers can, of course, also be the ones to call reporters out on their stereotypes, ableism and forcing the facts into a mould that doesn’t fit.

Reporting through a disability lens requires collaboration. If you see something that doesn’t look right to you, please bring it up to others in the news team, no matter what your role is in the production process. You can be the one to take the lead in bringing deeper, nuanced and authentic coverage to your newsroom. If your editor suggests cuts you think undermine your narrative, push back. If your producer asks you to do a shoot of something invasive, say no and suggest an alternative. If your team covers disability and doesn’t interview any disabled people, tell them such a story should be unpublishable.