Access coordinators facing “constant battle” to get work

Industry disability campaigner Sara Johnson has criticised the UK production community for its hesitancy to employ “pioneering” access coordinators (AC), as she announced a second round of her ScreenSkills co-funded AC training scheme.

Johnson, who runs advocacy group Bridge06, joined forces with ScreenSkills in August to fund the training of a dozen ACs to bridge the gap between deaf, disabled and neurodivergent talent and high-end TV, but said it remains a “constant battle” to get productions to hire them.

Speaking on the Get Set Ready: Ahead of the Curve on Access Coordinators panel at the Focus 2022 conference yesterday (6 December), Johnson said she could “literally feel eyes rolling” in conversations with some productions, largely because of concerns about extra expense. But she insisted that the AC role is not expensive, with a fixed rate that is tied to budgets.

“People ask me whether 12 is enough to go round, but not one of the cohort is currently working full time as an AC,” she said. “They are all ready to work and I am trying to get them enough work.

“Regardless of whether disability is the subject matter [of the programme], or if there appear to be disabled people in the crew, all productions should be using them right from the development stage.”

Her comments came on the same day that the Creative Diversity Network warned the industry needs a further 13,500 disabled people to match the general workforce.

AC scheme ramps up for for round two

With 63 applicants for the first cohort, Johnson believes there are “many more out there” who would be suitable candidates for the scheme, and she will be seeking up to 15 trainees in the new year for its second round.

Disability consultants Simon Minty, Sarah Rennie and Julie Fernandez will all return to lead the training, which will include more in-person set visits to help translate theory into practice.

Johnson, the former Sky drama chief and creative director at Endor Productions, said broadcasters are “poised and ready” for more ACs, with the BBC this week announcing it would include at least one disabled person in every unscripted programme.

Earlier this year, lobby group Underlying Health Conditions called for the formalised AC role in a landmark report.

Screenwriter and disability campaigner Jack Thorne told Broadcast earlier this week that members of the TV Access Project would meet with studios, post houses and facilities companies in the new year to start to set out plans to make workplaces accessible for disabled workers, following August’s call for action.