Disabilities are a topic with which careful consideration has to be given to terminology use in order to not offend the people being written about. The National Center on Disability & Journalism, located at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University, serves to support and guide journalists who are writing about people with disabilities.
According to the NCDJ's website, people with disabilities make up at least 19 percent of the United States population, or about 54.4 million people, yet they remain under-covered in the media. Another concern is that coverage of groups with disabilities tends to be inaccurate or incomplete.
To help reporters with the principles of accuracy, fairness and diversity, the NCDJ offers a wide range of resources including a disability style guide, tip sheets for interviewing people with disabilities, a Disability & Journalism blog, a disability library with news stories and a list of organizations, experts, advocates and people with disabilities who are willing sources for journalists.
No matter what mass media a journalist may cover, whether it be print, broadcast, public relations, advertising or professional writing, it is likely that he or she may cover a person with a disability at some point in time.
Thus, the NCDJ is an important tool for those working in any mass media. In the actual writing of the story, a journalist can turn to the Disability Style Guide for correct terminology to refer to the disabled. The blog section helps offer insight into opinions of not only journalists who cover disability topics but also people who are disabled.
Disabled people are part of the increasingly diverse world which we are currently in. As diversity grows, the news coverage of diversity should as well. The NCDJ is just one of many websites which journalists can turn to in order to make sure they represent the entire population with as much accuracy and respect as possible.
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