I'm very excited to announced that I will be joining with Lawrence Carter-Long to offer a free webinar on disability and journalism on May 11, via The Poynter Institute.
There are 56 million Americans who identify as disabled. Tens of millions more are connected to disability as direct caregivers or family members. Yet journalism about disability is too often stuck in decades-old models that imagine disability only as tragedy, a personal medical problem or something to be overcome. Thankfully, the historical divide between newsrooms and disability activist communities is rapidly becoming an a thing of the past.
In this webinar, we’ll offer better ways to tell stories about disability as identity, reveal key resources for reporting on these stories and see the disability angle hidden within almost every beat.
WHAT WILL I LEARN:Please spread the word. Share the link. We'll be reaching out to people across the disability community to learn more about what YOU want to see journalists do better, but please leave comments, end me emails, tweets, Facebook messages, anything.
WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE:
- How to avoid common mistakes that dehumanize disabled individuals
- Where and how to find untold stories about disability in America
- The benefits of understanding disability as identity rather than as a collection of medical concerns
- How to connect disability to other stories in other communities in order to practice intersectional journalism
Every major beat has a disability angle, likely one you haven’t explored. Politics, metro, sports, health, entertainment, even weather (we could tell you stories about snowstorms, Hurricane Katrina and wheelchair-accessible trailers) — reporters who work in any of these fields, and the editors who oversee newsrooms, will find a wealth of new stories at their fingertips once they begin to engage with disability.
I'd especially like to encourage you to think about local journalists. Too often we focus on the big nationals - and that matters, as their patterns shape local practice. But while I follow the nationals carefully, I don't know what's being said or reported on in your particular community. Send links! Send commentary! Send anything.
Thanks.
