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Arts Access Australia
The formatting of this submission may have been altered due to the processing required for publication on the Department's website.
12-Dec-08
Arts Access Australia
Online Submission
ABC and SBC Towards a Digital Future Discussion Paper Response
Arts Access Australia is the national peak body for arts and disability with members and representatives in every state and territory. Together we work to increase cultural access and participation for the 1 in 5 Australians with a disability.
Our response to the Discussion Paper is primarily focused on strategies that increase the low levels of participation by people with a disability in all areas of the ABC and SBS as they move towards a digital future.
We support the Discussion Paper discussion under 'Informing and entertaining Australians' which recognises the ABC and SBS role as both a producer of creative content and a platform for the delivery of culture and the arts to society. We also note the current ABC and Australia Council for the arts partnership on delivering content which could be replicated with SBS:
http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/media/s2213104.htm
The particular challenge for the ABC and SBS is how to respond to Social Inclusion and Diversity issues. The Discussion Papers take on disability is narrow limiting consideration of disability to access as an audience member and not portrayal or content. This could be related to SBS and ABC inaction on disability. We note the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) does not have a Disability Action Plan (DAP) from SBS and the last submission from the ABC is a progress report from 1999 on their 1997 DAP:
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/disability_rights/action_plans/Register/register.html#commgov
In 2008 there are important Australian National and Foreign Policy objectives relating to Disability that the ABC and SBC should be playing a role in supporting. These include the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People, The Australian Government Social Inclusion Agenda, The National Disability Strategy, The National Disability and Mental Health Employment Strategy and Cultural Ministers Council National Arts and Disability Strategy.
The effective implementation of a disability strategy by the ABC and SBS would include:
Production of content by people with a disability
The online presence of people with a disability
The training of people with a disability
The representation of people with a disability
Access as audience members by people with a disability
Production of content by people with a disability
ABC and SBS should appoint specific advisors on diversity that includes disability. In 2006 the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) appointed an Editorial Executive of Diversity to oversee the way BBC channels represent the audiences they serve. The aim is to improve on-screen portrayal and diversity by working closely with channel controllers, commissioners, in-house and independent production companies. As part of the commitment to recognising diversity, the BBC has set up directories for locating diverse on and off-screen talent that specifically include people with a disability:
Diverse Contributors Directory
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/diversity/Diversity_Document.pdf
Diverse On Screen Talent Directory
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/diversity/BBC_Diverse_Presenters.pdf
The BBC has also amended its policies to improve onscreen portrayal by opening up casting to disabled people, whether or not it is in the casting brief.
The online presence of people with a disability
The ABC and SBS are well placed to support what would quickly become Australia's premiere disability website based on the BBC Ouch model http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/. In partnership with a disability arts organisation, such as Arts Access Australia http://www.artsaccessaustralia.org, people with a disability would be the editors and contributors of columns, news items and other features reflecting their lives and experiences.
The training of people with a disability
The Discussion Paper notes there are skills shortages in the training and development of ABC and SBS staff. There is also clear evidence that people with a disability are under employed. The ABC and SBS should develop inclusive workplaces and long term strategies and relationships with training providers and disability employment services to address this issue.
The representation of people with a disability
Negative community attitudes to disability can have a negative effect on social inclusion. The ABC and SBS should incorporate specific guidance in their editorial policies on language usage to refer to people with a disability. Similarly they should ensure all staff receive regular disability awareness training.
An interesting 2003 research report Disabling Prejudice, Attitudes Towards Disability and its Portrayal on Television is a UK paper jointly commissioned by the BBC, the Broadcasting Standards Commission (BSC) and the Independent Television Commission (ITC). It examined attitudes towards disability, and the representation of disability on television, by both disabled and non-disabled viewers, and by broadcasting industry professionals.
It found the majority of viewers (61%) say that there should be more portrayals of disabled people on television in a wide variety of roles, including as presenters, and 79% of viewers would not mind if a disabled person read the main evening news bulletin.
The report offers some very specific points which can assist programme makers and broadcasters to make judgements about the likelihood of material being received positively by viewers, and avoiding unintentional offence.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/bsc/pdfs/research/disability.pdf
The research and recommendations are highly relevant to Australia.
Access as audience members by people with a disability
On-demand entertainment and high quality internet-enabled viewing and listening will unquestionably be the future of digital television and radio.
The BBC iplayer shows many of the possibilities. The BBC iPlayer is an online television catch-up service, on which programmes from all the BBC's network TV and Radio channels are available to download and watch, without advertising, for up to a week after transmission.
This platform brings both best practice in accessible website design and television and radio access services together in one service. Specifically, the interface enables additional accessibility features to be incorporated to suit user needs, regardless of visual, hearing, cognitive or motor impairments, and includes sign language, subtitles and audio description.
http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/accessibility/