The UK’s leading broadcasters have created the TV Access Project (TAP), in response to the lobby group’s Underlying Health Condition (UHC) campaign to address disabled access across the UK TV industry.
TAP was created by BBC, Channel 4, Britbox International, Disney+ UK, ITV, Paramount, Prime Video, Sky and UKTV, with support from Creative Diversity Network and Pact, which represents the independent sector.
UHC created by disabled creators Genevieve Parr, Katie Blair and Holly LoBran with screenwriter Jack Thorne, following a MacTaggart lecture he gave at the Edinburgh Television Festival in 2021. TAP supports Triple C (Disabled Artists Network Community) and DDPTV (Deaf and Disabled Television).
All of these organizations aim to ensure an inclusive television production sector for disabled talents, seeking solutions across both written and unscripted texts.
The project began in April, when BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore held an industry-wide roundtable between creators with disabilities and content creators.
TAP has published 5As production guidelines for disability inclusion. All who adopt the Guidelines will be committed to anticipating, ordering, evaluating, adapting and advocating when it comes to working with talent with disabilities and providing their access requirements.
TAP members have also posted an open letter to studios and facilities, requesting access and inclusion in their workspaces. Those studios, post-production homes and facilities that demonstrate their ability to meet these new guidelines will be prioritized by TAP members when considering setting up new commissions in the UK.
The group has set a one-year timeframe to publish two sets of accessibility guidelines across the industry and will be reporting to delegates at next year’s Edinburgh Television Festival its achievements.
Collectively, Thorne said, “Collectively, we have worked hard to raise the level of representation of people with disabilities on and off screen, but over the past year we have come to realize that our progress has been stymied by a significant, but solvable, issue of physical accessibility. How can one in five of our People with disabilities can hope to work on our productions, if the spaces in which they are made are not available to them?
“So our vision is to unite as an industry and create a set of accessibility standards for ourselves and our third-party partners that provide studios and facilities. A commitment that together we can create better, more flexible workplaces that include everyone who wants to work in the industry.”
Moore added: “Over the past six months, we have worked across the sector and in partnership with industry organizations led by and working with people with disabilities and interest groups, to encourage as much participation and activism as possible. Today seems like a watershed moment for disabled talent and their inclusion in our industry and it is exciting to be In a position where we can agree on reasonable action and implement collective action for change.”
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