Workshop on news coverage of disability issues.

2.  20% of population
 One in five families includes a member with a
disability
 Growing segment with baby boomers
 Business imperative

4. Use person-first language
Terminology to avoid:
 Disabled, handicapped, crippled  person with
disability/people with disabilities/disability
community
 Wheelchair bound/Confined to wheelchair 
wheelchair user
 Suffers from/Afflicted with

5. Disability is a way of being, not something a
person ‘has’
Story frames to avoid:
 Pity, weakness, undesirability, deficiency,
suffering
 Charity for people with disabilities
 Burden or drain on society

6.  Include people with disabilities as sources in
non-disability related stories
 How do newsworthy items impact the
disability community?
 When describing an individual, do not
reference his or her disability unless it is
clearly pertinent to a story

7.  Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)
Civil rights legislation created to address
discrimination on the basis of disability in
employment, public accommodations,
transportation and telecommunications as well as
state and local government services.

8.  ABC7 Chicago | Disability Issues with Karen Meyer

10.  ADA Anniversary (July)
 Disability Employment Awareness Month
(October)
 Disability Mentoring Day (3rd Wednesday of
October)
 Employment
 Standards for accessible buildings
 Voting turnout and accessibility
 Protection and Advocacy System monitors
complaints
 CHAT program for children who can’t
communicate verbally (launches this summer)

11.  National Center on Disability and Journalism
http://ncdj.org
 Accessible SU
http://www.syr.edu/accessiblesu
 Society of Professional Journalists
http://www.spj.org/dtb5.asp