Back in July 2022, I attended a virtual event launch of the Disability Code of Portrayal, in which Channel 4 created a set of guidelines to improve the quality and quantity of disability representation in its programmes.
I was invited to attend the event through my work at Disability Horizons. Initially, it was going to take place at Channel 4’s headquarters in London but I wouldn’t have been able to attend due to distance and needing accompanying by PA (whole other story).
Thankfully, due to the extremely hot weather, the event was moved online because there were concerns around travel safety and health. Therefore, I asked if I could attend online.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t speak directly to the guests on the panel – which included Adam Hills, Ade Adepitan, Briony May Williams, Simon Minty, Sophie Morgan and Shani Dhanda – but it was still a very interesting and lively discussion to watch.
In this blog, I share what the Disability Code of Portrayal is and what it involves, give details on what was discussed at the virtual event and share my additional research and thoughts on Channel 4’s commitment to accessibility services for disabled audiences (e.g audio description, subtitles and BSL).
Channel 4’s Disability Code of Portrayal
Channel 4 has announced a plan to strengthen the portrayal of disabled people on television.
Channel 4’s ‘Disability Code of Portrayal’ sets out how it aims to deliver a step change in both the quality and quantity of on-screen representation of disabled people. The principles outline how it intends to dial up the representation of disability across all its content.
Ally Castle, Channel 4’s Disability Consultant said: “We firmly believe that the commitments we are making today will take the inclusion of disabled people in our content to a different level, far beyond cliches, tropes and stereotypes.
We will closely monitor the volume and types of disability portrayal in each programme via the standard commissioning paperwork and I am particularly proud of the pledge to always have senior editorial disabled input in core disability programmes – whether on the production team, via a consultant or through Channel 4 expertise – ensuring that stories about disabled people are told by disabled people.”
The Code, believed to be the only one of its kind currently in the industry, will provide a set of guidelines for both commissioners and programme-makers alike. It covers a range of measures including an explicit commitment to seeking disabled actors for disabled roles in scripted content and promises that disabled people will be shown as well-rounded characters who are more than just their conditions or impairments.
Channel 4’s Chief Content Officer Ian Katz said: “After ten years of successful Paralympic coverage, it’s now time for a step change at Channel 4 across all our portfolio, in terms of both the quantity and quality of disability representation in our content.
We have developed this Code of Portrayal to outline our clear commitments and give detailed steers as to how we go about delivering the original, nuanced and authentic portrayal of disabled people, which our viewers – disabled and non-disabled – want, expect and deserve.
This Code not only allows us to get into more engaging and knotty creative conversations around disability, it also gives us a framework for accountability – for our production partners and our commissioning editors. It will ensure that they work with the best talent, on and offscreen, to allow us to deliver on it and make sure that we get to a higher standard of portrayal.”
Channel 4’s six portfolio-level commitments in its new Disability Code of Portrayal require commissioners to have a range of portrayal types in their content including Incidental where the character “happens” to be disabled without it driving the story; integrated where disability is present and may be directly addressed if relevant; and core where disability is front and centre of the programme.
The programme-focused commitments include ensuring disabled people in Channel 4 content have their own voice and tell their own stories wherever possible. There will be sense-checking against ‘able gaze’ where assumptions and projections about the disabled experience are made by non-disabled people and being disabled will be presented as a valid identity, rather than anything to be ashamed about or shocked by.
In line with Channel 4’s recently refreshed Commissioning Diversity Guidelines, there is an explicit commitment to seeking disabled actors for disabled roles in scripted content.
Also, to ensure a volume of representation which will allow for the full spectrum of disabled experiences to be shown, every series from now on will be expected to have at least one disabled performer, contributor, guest or presenter, with the intention for more than one.
Channel 4’s remit is to champion unheard voices and it has given a platform to communities that have previously been underserved including disabled people.
The official broadcaster of the Paralympics since 2012, Channel 4 won a coveted Cannes Lions Grand Prix Film Award for its Super Humans advertising campaign for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
It has pioneered series such as Born to Be Different, The Undateables and The Last Leg and championed talents like Rosie Jones, Billy Monger, Briony May Williams, Ed Jackson and Ruben Reuter. It has also cast disabled people in its biggest and most successful formats from First Dates and The Great British Bake Off to Hollyoaks and Gogglebox.
Disability Code of Portrayal launch event
On 19th July 2022, I watched a virtual launch event of Channel 4’s Disability Code of Portrayal. It opened with a speech from Channel 4’s Chief Content Officer Ian Katz then Ally Castle, Channel 4’s Disability Consultant, gave a presentation outlining the 10-point plan of Channel 4’s Disability Code of Portrayal.
After that, we were joined by a panel of guests to discuss Channel 4’s plans. It was hosted by Adam Hills and featured Ade Adepitan, Briony May Williams, Simon Minty, Sophie Morgan and Shani Dhanda.
They started by discussing their overall thoughts on the code. TV presenter Ade Adepitan opened by saying that he was glad of the new guidelines but disappointed we needed it in the first place:
“It’s something that’s really important. It’s needed. I’m sad that it’s needed but unfortunately, there are still people that don’t get it. I think there is something really crucial and important points.
My fear about it is I hope people don’t get sort of caught up and think ‘we have to adhere to this box or this number, otherwise we can’t make something’. I hope people can still be loose and creative when they’re making the stuff on TV.”
Briony May Williams, who was a contestant on The Great British Bake Off and now does presenting on Food Unwrapped, said:
“I think it incorporates the complexity of diversity, which is so important because we are not all the same. It’s down to the individual, and more importantly than that, it looks at humanity, the humanity side of disability, and I think that gets forgotten a lot. We are people and we have feelings and that’s an incredibly important part of it.”
Later on, disabled entrepreneur and activist Shani Dhanda defined what she thought a good representation of disability is: “For me, it’s when we see nuanced portrayal of disabled people. I think people often think that those of us that live with conditions and impairments, it’s the biggest thing in our lives. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a pretty big thing and yes we have to manage our conditions every single day. But there is so much more to our personalities than that.
I can’t wake up tomorrow and leave the fact I have brown skin at the door. That definitely affects my experience in the world. I think when we push for more nuanced stories and understand different diversities and cultures, not only will our work be more inclusive, but it’s going to be so much more interesting as well.”
Sophie Morgan then shared one of her proudest moments on TV, in which she welcomed her support worker on screen at times when she needed assistants:
“The thing I would say I’m most proud of is in my last series that I just did called Living Wild, which is a travel show that involves going round and meeting people that have completely changed their lives. One of the decisions we made as a production and with the channel guidance and with my input, to show how I navigated the environment I was in and I brought my support worker on camera with me.”
Sophie added: “I felt very proud of being honest and being authentic about how I do my job. So often, I used to see disabled people presenting and you wouldn’t see how they got to where they got to or the struggle behind the camera. That for me took away from some of the viewing pleasure of witnessing what they’re actually doing. I really wanted to try and do something about that.
The response that I got online from other wheelchair users and other people with physical disabilities whom themselves have carers or support workers was really welcomed – ‘Thank you for showing that, it was really insightful for me to see how you work as a presenter’.”
Other topics that were discussed in this event included TV moments that changed disability perceptions (e.g the Paralympics, Rodie Jpnes’ role in Casualty and multiple roles played by Ruth Madeley), disability language and terminology, disabled people behind the camera and creating content, the challenges of progressing a TV career with a disability and the future of disability portrayal on TV.
Channel 4’s commitment to making content accessible to disabled audiences
I feel it is great Channel 4 is leading the way in representing disabled people in all its content on and off screen. But what about making all content accessible for disabled audiences to watch?
Those of you who have followed my blog for a while should know I’ve been campaigning for audio description on ALL TV shows and films. After the Disability Code of Portrayal launch event, I decided to contact the Channel 4 event and press teams to find out how Channel 4 is working to make all content fully accessible. They came back with this statement from Channel 4:
“We already have a number of commitments in place on providing access services and we have increased the number of programmes that are audio described and have BSL provision. But we will never be complacent and have set ourselves stretching accessibility targets to continually improve the service we offer.
By the end of 2022 we are committed to:
- Returning to 100% subtitles across all linear channels (following the subtitling problems caused by the major technology incident experienced by our supplier Red Bee last summer)
- Commit to achieving 100% subtitles on All4 by the end of 2022
- Increase sign language from 5% to 10% on Channel 4 and E4
- Increase audio description to 45% on all our linear channels
- Increase the number of signed and audio described box-sets on All4
We are proud to over-deliver on our existing regulatory quotas required by Ofcom and to surpass the commitments of other UK broadcasters.
We are currently working with our technology teams to explore how to make our content accessible on all eligible devices and we are also actively looking at how we can make more live programming as inclusive as possible through various creative and technical solutions.
Channel 4 continues to work with a range of organisations to ensure that we continue to focus and invest in providing services and opportunities for our audiences with disabilities, so your feedback is very helpful.”
This is great that Channel 4 are actively working to make its content accessible and I’ll be curious to know if the broadcaster will reach its target commitments by the end of 2022.
However, I still feel 45% of content with audio description is low. I know it is higher than Ofcom’s minimum of 10% but what about the other 55% of the content? Audio description doesn’t just have to be the narrator in a booth recording descriptions. More should be done by presenters, journalists and characters to include descriptions in their content.
For example, if subtitles are translating a foreign language, have the presenter or reporter read it aloud too. Or if a presenter or character is doing something visual (e.g riding a bike, walking through the countryside, viewing an incident) have the person creatively mention what is happening without it sounding like a generic narrator.
One particular show that I did raise to Channel 4 was The Last Leg. I’ve loved this show since it first aired in 2012 but sadly, there are times I struggle to follow certain elements due to my sight loss.
Despite being an inclusive show that stars disabled people and discusses disability frequently, they do forget many of us in the blind community can’t understand visual jokes.
For instance, there are times they’ll show a photo and ask the viewers to come up with funny captions. Or when Josh Widdicombe does his “wrap up the last 7 days” segment, a lot of the video clips are visual with little to no dialogue.
Therefore, I strongly urge and plead that in future episodes of The Last Leg that Adam, Alex, Josh, their guests and/or even Mike the cameraman give verbal descriptions of things when delivering a visual joke.
My petition to make audio description available on ALL TV shows and films has more than 3500 signatures but we need loads more in order for broadcasters like Channel 4 to notice and take action. Please, please, PLEASE sign support and share!
Also, check out my blog 5 reasons audio description is important to people with sight loss and my article on PosAbility Magazine – Report: audio description missing from three-quarters of Netflix content.
What are your thoughts on the quality and quantity of disability representation on TV and the level of accessibility for disabled audiences? Share your thoughts in the comments box or on social media.
