Kudos to Channel 4 for making 2016 their ‘Year of Disability’ – good on them for doing something about the appalling lack of representation of disabled people in broadcasting.
To coincide with the Channel’s coverage of the Rio Paralympics, Channel 4 have created a £300,000 fund to foster new talent and support the careers of disabled people both on and off-screen. Plus they plan to ringfence half of their apprenticeships and 30% of work experience places for disabled applicants and aim to double the number of disabled people appearing in 20 of Channel 4’s most well-known shows.
What’s more, in November it was revealed that Breaking Bad actor RJ Mitte, who has cerebral palsy, will be joining the presenting team for the Games: keep ‘em coming Channel 4!
Let’s hope this initiative follows on well from last Year’s 360° Diversity Charter, which set out a range of targets on increasing diversity within the organisation such as casting disabled actors and improving overall employee representation.
Let’s see if more organisations will follow suite and help make it the ‘decade of disability’.
BBC, ITV, Sky – Your move!
To find out more, please see the original Guardian article here: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jan/18/channel-4-year-of-disability-rio-paralympics
