Library Guides: Disability and Journalism: Writing About Interviewees with Disabilities

Links and Information

Disability Reporting Handbook
A guiding website from Australia on how to write for disability and diversity.
National Center on Disability and Journalism Homepage
The Best and Worst
Mary Johnson offers one perspective on the consequences of journalistic writing about disability.
Helpful insights for journalists covering people with disabilities
Josh Coe compiles helpful tips from several journalists on how to write appropriately when covering people with disabilities.
Journalists Need to Improve Coverage of People with Disabilities
An episode of a radio show (summary, transcript, and audio included) on how journalists can do more to increase disability coverage in the media.
4 key tips for reporting on and writing about people with disabilities
The "super-crip" stereotype: Sensitive News Topics
An article on how not to write about people with disabilities, focusing on the outdated ideas of equating people with disabilities to inspiration and superhuman feats.
Bettering journalist's abilities to cover disabilities of others
One perspective on how journalists can cover disabilities.
Namibia: Journalists Brush Up On Disabilities Reporting
A brief overview of how Namibian journalists are learning how to cover disabilities.
A journalist's guide to learning disability
An official report from Mencap (UK) with suggestions and guidelines for journalists when writing about people with learning disabilities.
Media and People With Disabilities: Are We Represented Accurately?
A brief overview on how disability is represented in the media and how the situation can be improved.
How journalists can create inclusive media
An official report from Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital on how journalists can address and write about people with disabilities.
Changing views through radio
A brief overview of how people with disabilities are changing how the media views them.
Empowering Women Advocates with Disabilities
A brief overview of how women with disabilities and journalists in Nepal are coming together to change how disability is viewed in the media.
NDA--Ireland (The National Disability Authority)
The website of Ireland's NDA-- the page linked here is the official rules and guide on how the media in Ireland should represent disability.
Disability and the Media--United Nations
The United Nations' official page on disability representation and inclusion in the media.
Disability Writing and Journalism Guidelines-- Center for Disability Rights, New York, USA
The Center for Disability Rights' official page on disability inclusion and representation in the media.
Diversity Toolbox
The Society of Professional Journalists' official page on disability representation and inclusion in the media.
Humans first, disability second: Towards a responsible portrayal of disabled people in journalism
Rodrigo Pérez Ortega writes about the need for the media to portray people with disabilities as accurately as possible, not as heartwarming stories, but as human beings.
Disability News Service
The official website of the Disability News Service, an organization run by a journalist with a disability that covers everything from discrimination and equality to unemployment numbers and education.
BBC Extend in News program gets disabled journalists on the career ladder
An article detailing one UK organization's efforts to employ people with disabilities in a healthy, accessible workplace.
Three disability questions every editor should ask
Ableism is embedded in our everyday language. This guide is a good example of how to be on the lookout for that. From RJI, MU.
Disability History-- Hannah Wise, RJI
This article takes journalists through key moments in disability history in order to strengthen coverage of disability.
5 Questions to Ask
Five questions to ask when writing about interviewees with disabilities. From Poynter.

Cover Disability with Respect

Image from the National Center on Disability Journalism Facebook page

Avoid Ableism

Image from the New Women Space Facebook page