Bring Us Our Rights: Disabled People’s Manifesto

After months of work and collaboration with over 200 disabled people and activists from across Wales, Disability Wales are delighted to launch Bring Us Our Rights: Disabled People’s Manifesto this International Day of Disabled People! The manifesto highlights many key areas for advancing equality for disabled people as well as offering policy solutions. The manifesto … More

International Day of People with Disabilities is the annual celebration of people with disabilities. This year On 3 December 2024, the theme is “Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future.”

We call on domestic and international public health officials, political representatives, advocates, supporters, and every citizen in every community, to learn from the experiences of disabled people, and push for more meaningful investments into the socioeconomic building blocks which will reduce the barriers faced by people with disabilities in every community.

Disabled representation in cinema continues to be a struggle, as we see very few authentic depictions that don’t play to the hero or tragedy tropes so often associated with disability on screen. Our ask of the film sector is to see more varied characters and stories about disability, to hire more disabled talent into production, distribution and exhibition roles in film, and to support any workers with access needs with compassion and care, so they can progress and have jobs for life in the industry.

As regards exhibition, at Inclusive Cinema, we seek to see as many subtitled, audio-described and relaxed screenings made available across the UK for those with access requirements as there are for those without access requirements.

Useful sources for accessible screenings

Your Local Cinema lists many subtitled and audio-described screenings

Accessible Screenings UK also list autism-friendly, dementia-friendly, subtitled and audio-described screenings

Resources

The BFI FAN: Access Directory
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ICO: How do I make my cinema inclusive and accessible?
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Weird Weekend: Providing Audio Description in Non-Theatrical Cinema Spaces
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Sidecard [film access materials database]
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SQIFF Accessibility Guide for Exhibitors
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Deaf and Disabled access in film exhibition
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Access schemes
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Subtitling, BSL and Audio Description services
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7 Documentaries to Watch After Crip Camp
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Bring Us Our Rights: Disabled People’s Manifesto
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Report: Online forum - Expanding online access to the arts for disabled people
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The White Pube investigates: the impact of using social media
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Cinema Provision In Wales For Families With Disabled Children
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Being Disabled In Britain - A Journey Less Equal
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Centering Disabled Arts and Audiences
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Planning and Access for Disabled people: A Good Practice Guide
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The Fringe Guide to Adapting Events for Deaf and Disabled Audiences
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UKCA's CEA Card
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Using A Range Of Communication Channels To Reach Disabled People
read more
Accessibility in cinemas: Are cinemas playing fair?
read more
Access Guide - Ensuring your venues and events are open to all
read more
Learning Disabled Representation
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Supporting employees who are deaf or have hearing loss to thrive at work
read more
Battersea Arts Centre relaunches as world’s first fully relaxed venue
read more
The Seven Principles for an Inclusive Recovery
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The Exclusion Act

The Exclusion Act is a report that uses data driven research to share insight & evidence to the film industry on where inclusion of British East & South East Asians [BESEA] is failing. The headline findings of this study shows that in the past ten years, 0.8% or only 9 out of 1077 British films … More

UK Disability History Month takes place from November until December.

The UK Disability Month website offers a wide range of resources to understand the importance of the struggles of Disabled People.

Cinemas and film exhibitors can use this time to promote stories which explore the history and struggles of disabled people.

It is important that accessibility is addressed in all its complexity, encompassing the physical environment, transportation, information and communication, and services.

Cinemas across the country offer access for people who may have visible or hidden disabilities, as well as offering specific accessible screenings, such as subtitled, audio described, BSL interpreted, relaxed environment, autism-friendly, and/or dementia-friendly screenings.

Find screenings…
Your Local Cinema lists many subtitled and audio-described screenings
Accessible Screenings UK also list autism-friendly, subtitled and audio-described screenings

We Shall Not Be Removed worked in partnership with Ramps on the Moon, Attitude is Everything,Paraorchestra, and What Next? to create a new guide for the arts and entertainment sectors to support disability inclusion. Their Seven Inclusive Principles for Arts & Cultural Organisations working safely through COVID-19 was designed to complement the suite of guidance documents already issued by UK Governments and sector support organisations.

The focus of this unique initiative, which builds from the #InclusiveRecovery campaign, was to ensure D/deaf, neurodiverse and disabled people were not discriminated against as creative work begun again and as venues re-opened following closure during the Covid pandemic. The Seven Principles offer practical guidance to arts and cultural organisations to support disabled artists, audiences, visitors, participants and employees.

The Seven Principles are applicable across all art forms and across all 4 UK nations and come with endorsement from a wide range of leading sector bodies including: Arts Council England, Creative Scotland, The Arts Council of Wales, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, British Film Institute, The Museum Association, Theatres Trust, Royal Philharmonic Society and the British Council.

The Seven Inclusive Principles are: 

  1. All organisational activities must comply with the requirements of The Equality Act (2010) and make reasonable adjustments to operating practice that ensure disabled people are not unlawfully  discriminated against
  2. All actions relating to disabled people should be undertaken in accordance with the Social Model of Disability and aim to combat and eliminate ableism
  3. Co-production with disabled people: disabled people should be consulted when organisations develop bespoke operating or re-opening plans, and undertake Equality Impact Assessments before making decisions
  4. Organisations need to provide clear, accurate and comprehensive information about Covid-19 measures to enable disabled artists, practitioners, employees, visitors, audiences and participants to assess their own levels of risk, and be prepared to adapt to specific enquiries or requests
  5. The customer journey for disabled audiences and visitors should be thoroughly mapped, ensuring it is equality impact assessed, clearly communicated in multiple formats to the public, and prioritises free companion tickets to maintain essential access
  6. Disabled artists are an important cultural asset in the UK and their engagement in all new creative projects should be prioritised
  7. Organisations should ensure they celebrate diversity, embed anti-ableist principles to support and protect disabled people, and should demonstrate due care for the disabled workforce when making decisions about redundancy, restructuring and new ways of working

Read the full document for details and examples here at WeShallNotBeRemoved.com

You can also find out more through this video.

RNIB – Audio Description

If you are finding it difficult to watch your favourite television programmes or films, you can enable audio description (AD). Audio description (AD) is additional commentary that explains what’s happening on screen. AD describes body language, expressions and movements, making the programme clear through sound.