Think about disability early in your communications planning, rather than trying to fit it around or into your message later.
Tip 2.
Keep representation in perspective - don't over-represent disabled people.
Tip 3.
Challenge the negative perception that disabled people aren't part of everyday life or are passive receivers of care or services.
Tip 4.
Show disabled people in company, interacting with non-disabled people - otherwise it reinforces isolation. The most desired portrayals use disabled people in working roles, high status, and everyday non-medical environments, for example, socialising, active roles etc.
Tip 5.
Steer clear of evoking pity.
Tip 6.
Consider the use of humour - it can be very memorable!
Tip 7.
Try to move away from the obvious stereotypes of disability.
Tip 8.
Any form of increased presence is good - it helps to raise the profile of disabled people.
Tip 9.
Being too politically correct could result in a piece of work that is bland or unrealistic. An over-sensitive approach is likely to strengthen prejudices rather than challenge them.
Tip 10.
Don't assume that particular production techniques are unsuited to portraying disability. Animation or aural portrayals can be creative and compelling and an excellent way to overcome the challenge of portraying non-visible impairments and health conditions, such as depression, epilepsy or diabetes.
Tip 11
. Show creative people the research. Ensure that agencies have the facts about disability and why it's so important to you and to government that they consider it seriously. Clearly communicate that disabled people usually have the same issues as the non-disabled but experience additional barriers.
Use disabled actors for disabled roles! A number of organisations can help - see VisABLE People, Equity and Spotlight for more information.
Tip 2.
Knowing who is out there is important in writing and casting. People often write very specific roles but a particular combination of disability, age, gender etc.. may not actually be available. Be prepared to be flexible.
Tip 3.
Ask casting agencies specifically for disabled people. Only when casting agencies become aware of the demand will they put disabled actors on their books. You may not be successful the first time you ask but agents will start to think about it.
Tip 4.
Persevere with your research and look in more than one place for the right person, as you would when casting for other types of actors. People often believe that if they do not get an answer about disability from one place, they have exhausted all possibilities, but this is unlikely to be true.
Tip 5.
Access. Make sure the location that has been selected for a shoot or voiceover recording has the necessary access facilities to satisfy a disabled actor's needs. This should include convenient parking or access to good public transport. Ask the actor or model if they need a language service professional and book one if they do.
Tip 6.
When casting for a disabled actor, work creatively with whatever impairment or health condition they have. There may be room for humour or surprise - a memorable impact that will help to convey your message.
Tip 7.
It is acceptable to use everyday language, for example,"see you later", "another pair of hands".
Tip 8.
Don't automatically base the casting on `beautiful' or aspirational people. Challenge the general habit of aesthetic censorship. Challenge yourself to cast on other criteria.
Tip 9.
Ensure that your model release forms are accessible.
For further information, explore the background section of this guidance.
Use a normal tone of voice, do not patronise or talk down.
Tip 2.
Do not define a disabled person by their impairment. It causes offence to be given a medical label.
Tip 3.
Don't be too precious or too politically correct - being super sensitive to the right and wrong language and depictions will stop you having a normal conversation.
Tip 4.
Take care to ensure that language used does not reinforce a negative stereotype.
Tip 5.
Avoid labels that say nothing about the person and reinforce the impression that the disabled person is sick or dependent.
Tip 6.
Avoid references that dehumanise. Use instead "a person with." Never say "a victim of" or "suffers from".
Tip 7.
It is acceptable to use everyday language, for example, see you later, another pair of hands.
Tip 8.
Never attempt to speak or finish a sentence for the person you are talking to.
Tip 9.
Address disabled people in the same way as you talk to everyone else.
Tip 10.
Communicate directly with a disabled person, maintaining eye contact if relevant - even if they have no speech and are accompanied by an interpreter or companion. This can take conscious effort as a normal reaction may be to turn towards the person who is speaking.
Consider using everyday scenarios that include disabled people, rather than those especially associated with disability. From the point of view of encouraging integration and diversity there is merit in showing disabled people interacting with non-disabled people in a non-disability-specific context.
Tip 2.
Think twice about showing disabled people on their own or isolated. This could imply that disabled people are naturally lonely or difficult to be with.
Tip 3.
It's never too late to consider including appropriate images and in some cases, disability has been successfully introduced during the casting and pre-production stages.
Tip 4.
Engage production houses. Ensure the advertising regulatory bodies and production houses are part of the process.
Tip 5.
Victim imagery calls for very careful use. You needn't necessarily be scared of using it when appropriate. 'Drink Drive Dave' was widely praised by some disabled respondents, including people with paraplegia, because of the seriousness of the message. A significant but vocal minority of disabled people did challenge this depiction and you need to be prepared to arouse some criticism where representations of disabled people are concerned. This is in part at least because of the relative rarity of such representation - meaning that people are acutely sensitive to particular, rare examples, in the way that, in the past, people were about race.
Tip 6.
Use hero imagery sparingly. Constant depictions of disabled high achievers have the capacity to further disable other disabled people. A gold-medal winning disabled athlete is no more representative of disabled people than David Beckham is of non-disabled people. It avoids showing the everyday reality of disabled people; the viewer sees the heroic achievement as compensating for the disability; making it alright.
Tip 7.
Use celebrities speaking on behalf of disabled people sparingly. In general, there are disadvantages in using non-disabled people as advocates of disabled people. Let disabled people speak for themselves, give them powerful or funny lines.
Tip 8.
Be aware that there are millions of family carers involved in some disabled people's lives, who are also typically under-represented in the media. Be wary of portraying them as martyrs or angels but do not diminish their importance. Show them and disabled family members as equals.
,