{"id":136181,"date":"2021-08-05T14:29:11","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T13:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=136181"},"modified":"2021-08-05T14:29:11","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T13:29:11","slug":"fairer-representations-of-disability-in-pr-starting-the-conversation-with-mark-webb-and-sudha-singh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/fairer-representations-of-disability-in-pr-starting-the-conversation-with-mark-webb-and-sudha-singh\/","title":{"rendered":"Fairer representations of disability in PR: starting the conversation with Mark Webb and Sudha Singh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018It feels like disability is last to the table at any diversity discussion. If it gets there at all. And yet we\u2019re the biggest minority\u2019 \u2013 as the host of the PRCA\u2019s new podcast Disability@thetable<\/a>, Mark Webb is making sure hidden and visible disability is part of the inclusion discussions happening across the industry.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Launched as part of the PRCA\u2019s recently-rebranded Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council<\/a>\u2019s new initiatives, Disability@thetable<\/a> shares stories and best practice advice to push conversations forward. \u2018It\u2019s some peoples\u2019 calling to chain themselves to railings to drive change. And there\u2019s a definite place for that, but I\u2019m hoping to help push the story from another angle,\u2019 says Mark. \u2018A happy, positive, \u201clook what you\u2019re missing\u201d tone.\u2019<\/p>\n

Including everyone at the table<\/span><\/strong>
\nThat PR and comms so often misses out consideration and representation of disability is a severe failing \u2013 not just of the audiences we seek to address and engage, but of our workforce and its future. As quoted in this 2016 piece from Ashley Phillips<\/a>, PRCA\u2019s UK PR Census that year found that just 2% of the 83,000 practitioners working in PR were disabled people. This isn\u2019t representative of society at large and can be incredibly isolating, as InFusion Comms\u2019 founder and managing director Sara Hawthorn shared in an accessmatters session last year<\/a> about her own experiences as a deaf person in the industry:<\/p>\n

\u2018I worked in the media on and off since I was 17. There was a point before starting InFusion Comms where I had never come across another media or PR professional with a disability or impairment at all, and I\u2019d never spoken to anyone else in the industry who was going through anything similar. I thought; this must be something missing from our organisations. Who\u2019s missing?\u2019<\/p>\n

While visibility is slowly increasing in some areas of the media – Channel 4 has promised that disabled people will make up at least 70% of its presenting team for the Paralympics this year (\u2018lovely,\u2019 says Mark, \u2018big, positive gestures can only help nudge the diversity and disability dials\u2019) \u2013 there\u2019s far to go.<\/p>\n

\u2018Things are getting better\u2019, says Mark. \u2018But way too slowly.\u2019<\/p>\n

Authenticity over tokenism<\/span><\/strong>
\n\u2018The comms industry can only speak from a position of knowledge and authenticity if we stop being tokenistic and become more intentional about our journey to equity and inclusion,\u2019 believes Sudha Singh, co-chair of the PRCA Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council (EIAC).<\/p>\n

Rebranded this year, the EIAC\u2019s new name reflects its new, more inclusive, purpose: \u2018For the longest time, organisations have been focusing on diversity as a way to correct institutional and historic inequalities,\u2019 says Sudha. \u2018Referring to people as diverse actually \u201cothers\u201d those who don’t belong to the dominant group\/privileged groups. We deliberated on the name change \u2013 it now reflects our purpose \u2013 who we are and what we are trying to do.<\/p>\n

\u2018We want organisations to focus on the equity inspired designs for bringing about that change \u2013 to create equitable workplaces where talented people can thrive, no matter where they come from, what they look like. And this will require organisations to actually identify the problem areas and it is not helpful if you are determined to treat everyone equally. Inclusion of course is an outcome and has diversity at its core \u2013 do people feel valued, can they bring their true self to work? What is their experience of the workplace? Do they belong?\u2019<\/p>\n

Initiatives and progress<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe work to ensure everyone can belong within our industry is well underway \u2013 the EIAC recently hosted its first ever #ChangeforGood Conference, supported by APCO, with over 20 speakers covering Gender, Social Mobility, Race and Disability, with more initiatives and partnerships to follow.<\/p>\n

For Mark, the Disability@thetable podcast will be leading the charge:<\/p>\n

\u2018Dream guests that won\u2019t happen? Michael J Fox, the Back to the Future legend, now with Parkinson\u2019s and doing amazing advocacy and fundraising work. And \u2013 showing my age, here \u2013 Gloria Estefan. I worked with her briefly in the early 90s, just as my Multiple Sclerosis was about to start sneaking up on me. Her family has been impacted by MS too. Both great communicators!<\/p>\n

\u2018Aiming high but vaguely feasible? The likes of Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, Rory Cellan-Jones, Frank Gardner. All of them living a good, positive, public eye life and not defined by their disability.<\/p>\n

Booked in already? Talented, brilliant communicators and PR people either living with, or impacted by disability… And I\u2019m hoping I can tease out others.\u2019<\/p>\n

While big brands are doing their own long-overdue work on inclusivity, it has to be done properly, something Mark acknowledges is likely to be difficult going for some:<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s a horribly fine line for any brand to be treading,\u2019 says Mark. \u2018It\u2019s a strange kind of gold-rush going on in the desperate bid to be inclusive, \u201cpolitically correct\u201d and all too often, tick-box. I will single out Lego positively, for their work across pretty much all flavours of diversity. And I dine out on stories of how brilliant the senior team at Dixons Retail, then Dixons Carphone, were with me. But listen to our podcasts for that!\u2019<\/p>\n

The first thing organisations can do to be more inclusive of disability within their teams, their campaigns and their creative? Join the conversation that\u2019s happening now. \u2018Consult with us, engage with us\u2019, says Mark. \u2018Don\u2019t just assume job done by slapping a wheelchair into something you\u2019re up to.\u2019<\/p>\n

Find out more about the Disability@thetable podcast and more PRCA Equity & Inclusion Advisory Council initiatives here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more experiences from people working across the comms industry, catch up with our accessmatters sessions<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018It feels like disability is last to the table at any diversity discussion. If it gets there at all. And yet we\u2019re the biggest minority\u2019 \u2013 as the host of the PRCA\u2019s new podcast Disability@thetable, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":136184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,7272,3725,3729],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136181"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136181"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136187,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136181\/revisions\/136187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}