Disability on television comes of age

26th November 2010

There are more disabled characters in British TV drama and soaps than ever before, and the industry has made huge strides forward in the portrayal of disability. 

From Izzy Armstrong and Adam Best in Coronation Street and Eastenders, played by wheelchair actors Cherrylee Houston and David Proud, to Lizzie Lakely in Emmerdale, played by Kitty McGeever who is blind, British soaps have ensured that disabled people are being seen on our screens night in night out, living their lives in the midst of the nation’s favourite on screen communities.

It’s no longer unusual to see someone with a disability appearing on a quiz show or a factual entertainment series which has nothing to do with their disability, like Wife Swap or Location, Location.  And there have been many excellent and innovative programmes which have taken disability as their central subject, for example Britain’s Missing Top Model, Cast Offs or War Torn Warriors. 

This week the broadcasters will collectively show their ongoing commitment to the inclusion of disability by screening a range of programming to mark the UN International Day of Disabled People on December 3rd.

BCIDN Chair Oona King said, “The scheduling of such a wide range of programming across UK channels next week demonstrates how much the TV industry has grown up in its coverage of disability.  More and more producers and commissioners are seeing the creative potential of disabled storylines and they’re excited about the storytelling possibilities they offer.”

“Modern British audiences expect to see disability as part of the rich tapestry of life reflected on the TV screens just as they see it as part of their daily lives, and the soaps are really helping to achieve this. But we’ve still a long way to go.   In the real world 1 in 4 people in the UK are either disabled or close to someone who is disabled, yet recent research showed that less than 2 per cent of the TV world has a disability.  We’ll know we’ve cracked it when disabled people just appear naturally in all our programming, without us feeling the need to remark on it.”

“Of course one thing which will help that progress is increasing the numbers of disabled people working in the industry, and the broadcasters are all very keen to achieve this.   The pool of disabled talent is still quite small and we hope that the increasingly strong messages coming out through our screens will encourage new generations of disabled people to consider television as a career.”

Full details of programmes scheduled to mark International Day of Disabled People

BBC

During the week leading up to the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities, BBC News will explore disability issues and the lives of people with disabilities in the UK and around the world. Under the theme ‘Access All Areas’ , a range of topics related to disability issues will be covered across BBC News output, including TV, radio and online. There will also be coverage on 5Live during the week. 

The content will focus on five teams - Changing attitudes, employment, sport, technology and invisible disability - and will run from Monday 29th November until Friday 3rd December, which is the UN International Day of Person’s with Disabilities.

Changing Attitudes: Forty years since the first disability act, Peter White, the BBC's disability affairs specialist, looks through archives at how language and attitudes towards disabilities have changed and interviews the man who designed the first legislation, Alf Morris. A survey examines the shift in attitudes and BBC News explores what life is like for people living with disabilities around the world.

Employment: BBC’s political correspondent Gary O’Donoghue explores the issues relevant around employment and Geoff Adams-Spink, age and disability correspondent, looks at how many people with disabilities fall through the net on education and provision of benefits and services.

Sport: The BBC team looks at sports funding and ways to make sport accessible for children with disabilities. Newsnight’s Jonathan Bell tells BBC News about how sport helped him when returning from his army service, and how it is used to support those coming back from Afghanistan with life changing injuries.

Technology: Rory Cellan-Jones, the BBC’s technology correspondent, looks at how cutting edge technology is transforming lives for people with disabilities, and Gary O’Donoghue talks about the big and small changes in technology which have developed in his life time and transformed how he lives.

Invisible disability: BBC News explores less visible disabilities and the arts and culture surrounding disabled people, as well as their portrayal in the media. BBC’s Scotland correspondent James Cook finds out how a company in Scotland was created specifically to open up employment opportunities for people with autism. 

BBC Three continues its range of programmes on disability with a number of documentaries in the coming weeks including the Born Survivors season and on BBC One, the Blue Peter Whizz Kids Appeal continues to raise funds to provide mobility equipment to disabled children.
Audio & Music will schedule 18 Radio items across various networks.

The BBC has also given permission to screen Ruth Caleb’s 1988 BBC film Raspberry Ripple as the headline film in the National Disability Film Festival which will be shown at screenings across the UK on December 3rd.

ITV

ITV will have coverage on This Morning on Friday December 3rd. 

"We are delighted to welcome Kitty McGeever back on to ITV1's flagship daytime show This Morning.  She was last on the show in April this year to talk about joining 'Emmerdale'.  Since then her character has become a firm favourite in the soap.  Kitty will be chatting to us about what the next few months have in line for her character as well as how it feels being a role model for people who have lost their sight."   Karl Newton, Executive Producer.

Channel 4

Channel 4 is committed to providing world class coverage of the Paralympic Games in 2012, and to broadcasting programmes that raise the profile and shift attitudes to disability and disability sport in the build up to the Games. After the transmission of the 90min documentary Inside Incredible Athletes in August, we did some audience research. The results were astonishing: 90% of viewers surveyed said that the film made them more interested in watching the Paralympics, and two thirds said that it had changed their perception of disability sport. Here are a couple of their comments:

“I was so impressed by the level of skill and the fitness of these athletes, their disabilities became the lesser part of who they are. I felt that their approach to their sports reflected what I consider to be the Olympic spirit. I intend to follow disability sports more closely”.
“I’ve never watched any Paralympic sport and feel I’ve really missed something. I’ll definitely be looking out for it now and will try to get to the Paralympic Games in 2012 as well as the normal games...”

After this hugely positive reaction to Inside Incredible Athletes, we decided to put out a shorter version to mark UN Day of Disabled People. The new 30’ edit is a combination of clips from the powerful Freaks of Nature trail, Mike Christie’s beautiful performance films, and key glimpses into the fascinating science. It really works to reinforce the fact that the sportsmen and women featured are elite athletes at the top of their game. Freaks of Nature showcases the extraordinary talents of Britain’s leading Paralympic athletes who are different from the rest of us, not because of their disability, but because of their staggering athletic ability, dedication and will to win. It will transmit at 7.30pm Friday 3rd December on Channel 4.

Channel 4 has also committed to identifying and developing a team of presenters, reporters and commentators for our coverage of the London 2012 Paralympic Games that includes at least 50% disabled on-screen talent. For the last nine months we’ve been conducting a nationwide talent search and have been interviewing/screen testing the most promising candidates. We have just completed round one of our online Half a Million Quid Talent Search http://paralympics.channel4.com/on-c4/the-half-million-quid-talent-search

Freaks of Nature Dir: Mike Christie (Jump London, Inside Incredible Athletes); Exec Prod: Alan Hayling; Prod Co: Renegade 

SKY

As members of the Broadcasters and Creative Industries Disability Network, Sky will be supporting the United Nations International Day of Disabled People on Friday 3rd December. 

Sky 3

We have scheduled programming on Sky 3 from Monday to Friday, week commencing 29th November every night at 9pm. 

Programmes include:
-    Monday 29th November Child Frozen in Time - Brooke Greenberg is 16 and lives in Baltimore, Maryland, with her parents and three sisters, of which she is second youngest. While she may sound like an ordinary teenager, Brooke is quite unlike others of her age – she is the still the same size she was when she was just six months old.
-    Tuesday 30th November Crippendales - Lee Kemp wants to be a stripper. The only trouble is that he’s in a wheelchair. Lee sets himself the task of finding and training from scratch a stripping troupe – all with disabilities. With a final performance booked to climax in one of the UK’s rowdiest Hen Night clubs, can the boys pull it off ?
-    Wednesday 1st December A Mother Like Alex - This is a documentary about one of the UK’s most remarkable mothers – Alex Bell. She is the very proud parent of eight children with special needs, seven of whom have Down’s syndrome. But what makes Alex so remarkable is that she chose to be a parent to these children with their individual challenges – she’s adopted seven of them and is the foster mother to the eighth one.
-    Thursday 2nd December War Torn Warriors (Part 1) - Britain’s heroes of the battlefield embark on a remarkable journey to help them return to active life. Ten injured Royal Marine Commandos bearing the terrible wounds of war - some double amputees, some facially disfigured and others mentally scarred – attempt to climb Mount Everest as part of their rehabilitation from front line to civvie street. 
-    Friday 3rd December War Torn Warriors (Part 2) - (see above)

Sky Third Party Channels

The Biography Channel

The Biography Channel has scheduled programmes on Thursday 2nd at 6pm and Friday 3rd at 6pm. 

Programmes include:

-    Marathon Love – Thursday 2nd Dec @ 18.00hrs  In 1987, Jamie Parks and Lynne McGovern were living a storybook romance but in the midst of planning their wedding, Lynn was in a near-fatal car accident that left her in a coma for seven months. When Lynn finally came out of the coma, she had to re-learn how to talk and walk.
-    Gill Hicks: Surviving 7/7 – Friday 3rd Dec @ 18.00hrs - Gill Hicks was the last person to be rescued from her train in the London bombings of 7th July 2005.

The Community Channel

Support for Disability Day begins on The Community Channel on Friday 3rd and continues on Saturday/Sunday featuring programmes on how disabled people survive and thrive:

Programmes include: 
-    Crip on a Trip (18 year old backpacking round Europe in a wheelchair)
-    Pushing The Limits (following a rowdy paralympic tennis player)
-    Brighter Horizons (sailing round India with Disabilities)
-    AccessAbility (charity shorts compilations)
-    Mediabox Disability Specials (3 x 30)
-    Let’s Go Dancing on Ice 
-    Living with Aspergers 
-    Sense compilation (DeafBlind Awareness)
-    Untold Stories (charity shorts)

Articles about Sky’s commitment to the day will also appear on the accessibility site and The Bigger Picture website.

S4C

Reflecting the day through its afternoon and evening magazine shows and running a repeat of an earlier documentary mid evening.

Afternoon magazine show Wed 3

Synopsis
On International Day of Persons with Disabilities Heddyr meets Marvis Thomas from Brynaman who attends a computer course for the disabled. Chef Kevin Williams joins us in the kitchen - he suffered a bad accident and is now learning to live with the results of his injuries.

Evening magazine show Wed 7:

Synopsis
We meet members the Wales Deaf Football Team.

21.30 Frank Letch

Today, on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, another chance to see this inspirational documentary about Frank Letch who was born without arms. He has lived a full and remarkable life and at the aged of 65 became Mayor of Crediton near Exeter. We travel with Frank back to Bala in North Wales where he lived and worked during the 1970s.