DRUK's Sue Bott gave a keynote speech on the importance of the social model of disability to senior media executives from print and broadcast journalism and advertising yesterday at the Reframing Disability Summit hosted by Media Trust at the Google Academy in London yesterday.
What did they learn from the keynotes? The difference between the medical and social models of disability. That a million disabled people in the UK want to and could work, but can't find the employers willing to employ them. That there are 14 million of us in the UK, but less than 7% of the people we see on screen are disabled. That disabled people want to see representation across media - and not just the 'superhero or scroungers' stories. That we make up 53% of consumers - we're the second biggest global market (women are the first). That globally, as a demographic, we have a disposable income of £8 trillion a year - that's the size of the Chinese economy. That there are more specific clothing ranges for dogs than for disabled people. That disabled people and the social model of disability need to be a mch bigger part of the conversation on workplace diversity, and that a diverse workplace which includes disabled people results in more diverse reporting, broadcasting, publishing, product development and advertising.