Our Mission
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
- (Conferences are where journalists make vital connections. Without access to these spaces, Disabled Journalists are at a perpetual disadvantage.)
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