Journalists with disabilities can do their jobs equally well and can also bring different and fresh perspectives – why then are so few working in the media? Lars Bosselmann from the European Blind Union writes about underrepresentation of people with disabilities in the media industry and the need to stop the stereotypical portrayals of them in the news.

All democracies are built on key principles, and one of the most important is freedom of the press. This freedom helps ensure that the actions of political leaders are transparent to the public. It also allows us to access information without outside interference.

However, there are still aspects of media practice that need to be improved, especially when it comes to diversity. When it comes to representation in the media or coverage of topics relating to different social groups, we are still far from being equal.

Current figures show that people with disabilities are not adequately represented in the staff of newspapers, radio stations and TV broadcasters. This is very worrying considering that up to 16% of the world’s population have some form of disability. Moreover, as underlined by a UNESCO report, persons with disabilities often also face prejudice due to stereotypical portrayals of our communities in the media, before worldwide audiences.

To change the public perception of persons with disabilities, we need to underline the importance of having them on board in newsrooms and in content creation processes.

Society needs to understand that the media industry is not going to be fully inclusive until persons with disabilities become part of workflows. Furthermore, disability-related topics must be covered with a different approach: media outlets should recognise that persons with disabilities are individuals who should enjoy their rights on an equal basis with others. Moreover, as content formats change constantly, we need experts to design these formats to be accessible and inclusive. 

Despite the fact that the disability community is underrepresented in the media industry, we can still find very inspirational examples showing that persons with disabilities can excel as content creators.

Recently, in its podcast series, the European Blind Union broadcast a focus episode on the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. In the episode, we talked to Laetitia Bernard, a blind French journalist who works for Radio France. Apart from this year’s Paralympics, Ms Bernard had already covered the 2012 and 2016 editions in London and Rio respectively. Additionally, she covered the Sochi 2014 and PyeongChang 2018 Winter Paralympic Games.

‘Events such as the Paralympic Games have a positive impact in bringing down barriers and challenging stereotypes,’ Ms Bernard stressed during the interview. ‘Even if a journalist has a disability, he or she can work efficiently and even be able to describe things differently,’ she added. Ms Bernard’s professional journey, as well as her reflections on this subject, tell us that this dimension also needs to be addressed in order to build a more inclusive society: equality must be at the core of the media industry.

Lars Bosselmann is the Executive Director of the European Blind Union (EBU).