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Mission 1

Radically improve reporting on Disabled subjects and disability itself

  • Publish contextual style guide devised by the Disabled Community to honor the dignity and self-determination of Disabled people and communities
    • Set standards for coverage that are culturally competent and account for the context, history, and lived experiences in the Disability community
  • Expand newsroom training program to educate and ready reporters to be held to higher standards
  • Co-create specialized trainings with other journalistic affinity groups

Mission 2

Advocate industry-wide for hiring Disabled editors, reporters, and professionals more substantively

  • (i.e. staff positions, particularly editor roles that guide more objective coverage and support stronger checks and balances: not only freelance, one-off hires)
  • Co-create fellowship partnerships with newsroms that lead to full-time employment opportunities

Mission 3:

Improve newsroom conditions under which Disabled journalists work, so journalists can thrive without having to hide or mask their disabilities

  • Publish Accessibility Bill of Rights for newsrooms
    • Put forth accountability measures to accommodate Disabled journalists and meet their needs
  • Publish Conference Accessibility Bill of Rights for Journalism
    • (Conferences are where journalists make vital connections. Without access to these spaces, Disabled Journalists are at a perpetual disadvantage.)
      Create our own innovative, accessible spaces that we control and can adapt quickly to meet everyone’s needs

Mission 4:

Protect Disabled journalists with media community and supports where they may not exist within their newsrooms

  • Create mentoring opportunities for Disabled journalists to share experience and advice, as well as resources that pool collective knowledge
  • Foster working relationships with newsrooms, acting as a resource

Mission 5:

Honor excellence and outstanding achievement in Disability journalism

  • Recognize innovative journalism by Disabled journalists
  • Award newsrooms for meaningful, lasting support of Disabled journalists and pioneering reporting on disability

Mission 6:

Educate the public

  • Fund our own journalistic projects that explore disability topics that traditionally go uncovered by mainstream newsrooms: poverty, eugenics, housing inequity, and so on
  • Give Disabled journalists opportunities to explore these subjects with the time and energy they deserve, and with editors from our community
  • Create work opportunities for emerging Disabled journalists that place them on projects led by more experienced Disabled journalists