A few Inclusive examples of TV Shows and Movies that accurately represent our audiences... and what we do to ensure that all of our Media output is as Inclusive as possible.
There are millions of websites, films, TV shows and social media platforms in 2021. But we think it’s safe to say that there is a definite lack of SEN and disability representation in the world. Is it getting better? Definitely. But we think as important as it is that our audience has an outlet to socialise and work on their mobility and well-being- it’s also extremely important that they have accurate representation of them within the media that they consume in order for them to feel seen. But not only this- one single popular outlet that represents disability in an inaccurate way can create a lot of miscommunication and misrepresentation. Whilst there are certain measures in place that can prevent this from happening there are still plenty of things that produce disability negatively. After some rigorous research- there is actually a startling amount. But instead of listing all of the bad- why not suggest and celebrate the good? Here are a few different suggestions from the team on a couple of different media case studies that they believe present disability and SEN in a positive and realistic way- and that you should give a watch! Speechless TV Series: A story of a young man living with cerebral palsy in a wheelchair, and him navigating through his life. Atypical TV Series: The story of a young man with autism slowly beginning to start dating, and other aspects of his life. A Quiet Place Movie: Starring a deaf character in a hearing family, played by an actress who is also deaf in real life. The Bridge TV Series: A crime drama whose main character is a female detective with autism. Life Goes on TV Series: The first ever TV series to centre on a Down Syndrome character played by an actor living with the condition. Let us know down below if you agree with any of these, or if you have any different suggestions that we haven’t mentioned that’s worth a watch! You may have noticed too that most of our videos that go up on our social media is by our junior content producer Ci. The only member of our current team with a disability, we believe it’s important that someone who lives with SEN should very much be the face of our business. You can see that his confidence has gradually vastly improved- and as somebody who studied Journalism- I can tell you that his voice control and presentation skills are something that I still struggle with after training from professionals! We aren't a corporate business who hires actors to do all of our promotion- we want someone who is heavily involved with us behind the scenes. We also believe it’s important that our videos are as accessible as they can be to our within our capability. That’s why every single video that we put out is captioned, and to take extra care we do this ourselves without depending on (often unpredictable) predicted subtitling. We also get Ci to do Makaton, which is a form of sign language to those who are hard of hearing. We even provide Makaton symbols on our equipment page to make each one a little more easier to understand those who may struggle to read, but can comprehend the symbols. All the pages on our website all have this option- and we are currently trying to figure out how we can make the blog accessible to those who are visually impaired. I am personally still learning how we can use certain aspects of websites and editing to make EVERYTHING inclusive- not just the people in the pictures and videos we post, or the services that we offer. Partly why we created this blog was to highlight a range of different Inclusive topics from people who work with SEN and disability audiences every single day. Written from someone who is actually very new to the world of disability, so from a completely impartial source. We also all take very careful measures to make sure that every person young or old is giving full consent to be on our social media pages. Consent forms are filled out for everybody, both children and young people as well as adults. This is to make sure that everyone is safe and that we are not crossing any boundaries by putting out someone that isn’t fully consenting. We monitor all of our social media platforms very closely to make sure that everything and everyone we interact with is suitable. We are also extremely lucky that in the last six months that our social media has taken off a little more that we have a wonderful audiences, with virtually no negative comments. However, we do believe that as we are putting out a lot of vulnerable people for the world to see- that we do have a certain duty of care. All comments and followers are monitored and we always want our platforms to be a safe space where they are celebrated and praised. Unfortunately we live in a world where this has to happen- but as long as cyberbullies exist, we will keep a close eye to always protect our participants. We hope that you now have a much better understanding of what we’re doing behind the scenes to make all of the media we produce as Inclusive as possible. We also hope that in a world with a lack of SEN representation that you now have a few new things to consume that represent Inclusive audiences accurately. Let us know down below if you have any suggestions on how we can make our online services even more Inclusive! We are always open to help and suggestions and we would love to know what you think!
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