I work with a number of clients where the company works with older or disabled creatives or is disabled led. From working with these incredible and highly innovative companies I feel empowered to play my part in removing barriers to access.  As 18-20% of the population is disabled, the world around us has to adapt and change for equity. Removing access barriers is also a win-win for everyone.

With this in mind and after a recent experience with an artist who needed a BSL translator for a national newspaper interview, I decided to write an access statement for press and media which we will put onto all press releases in Editors Notes.

I sent the draft round to four of my clients and they made suggestions which improved the statement to encompass all eventualities. It also stated that there is sometimes a cost to this access, suggesting it should be covered by the publication.

The next stage is to get all my clients to use an access statement, thereby helping it to become commonplace and an accepted part of journalism and PR.