Disability Matters

by David Curzon

Data in this report and other studies demonstrates that we are failing people with disability, and that entrenched ableism continues to be a systemic problem in and for our screen industries.

Since the release of Screen Australia’s original Seeing Ourselves report in 2016, the debate around how the screen sector can support greater diversity is one that has primarily focused on systemic barriers to participation. Recommendations have stressed policy standards, ‘inclusivity’ targets and organisational change in pursuit of balanced representation.

However, my research into this subject suggests that such recommendations have not resulted in meaningful change for the representation of disability on screen or in the screen sector at large, and that there is still a fundamental gap between the rhetoric supporting diversity and the ableist reality as experienced by disabled actors and screen practitioners. Above all, there is a glaring lack of appropriately funded initiatives that support disability-led projects.

Since early 2017, my own film development collaborations have made me personally aware of these ableist realities. Realising that Seeing Ourselves was the first Australian screen study to specifically include data on disability, and that there was little known scholarship in this field (with a handful of notable exceptions such as work by Dr Katie Ellis, Dr Radha O’Meara and others), I decided to undertake a research degree at the University of New South Wales. Taking a multi-methodology approach to the subject, I have been examining recent developments across Australia’s screen industries, and have undertaken a case study in which I discuss best practice models of disability representation with inclusive screen producers.

In analysing emerging data from Screen Australia, the Disability Justice Lens, the Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network and other sources, the conclusion drawn from my research is that the representation of disability on Australian screens remains neither proportional nor particularly progressive at this time, despite the industry rhetoric.

Incremental but inconsistent improvements in the representation of disability on Australian screens may be underway, but there is clearly still room for systemic improvement. A pragmatic path to such improvement should be led by disabled screen practitioners and their allies through an appropriately funded national Disability Matters initiative.

In advocating for such an initiative, it is worth considering the current government programs that support disability in the screen sector.

Since 2017, Screen NSW’s Screenability initiative has been the most prominent and successful of such programs, providing a $90,000 annual funding pool from which to provide three grants to disabled filmmakers to make short films that have then been screened at the Sydney Film Festival [main image is short documentary Inspire Me which was part of this program]. However, with Screenability currently on hold, and with no public-facing information available with respect to the future of the program, there are no remaining disability-specific screen support programs in effect in Australia at this time.

An expanded and better funded program could clearly help to address the under-representation of disability in our screen sector, moving forward. To inform the scale of such a program, I believe that we should look to Screen Australia’s Gender Matters, which distributes $5m per year through the Brilliant Careers and Brilliant Stories initiatives and targeted support for female-led screen projects.

Also established in 2017, Gender Matters has its own ‘taskforce’ and is working towards specific KPIs and outcomes for gender parity in the screen sector.

As an experienced screen producer, I understand that $5m is not a particularly substantial sum with which to fund systemic change, but if we estimate that 50% of Australians identify as female, and that 18% of Australians are people with disability (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018), then something like $1.8m per year would be a commensurately sized fund for a similar level of support to be afforded to disability screen initiatives under a Disability Matters umbrella.

Although it may not be a silver bullet for ableism, a well-resourced Disability Matters program would make an immediate and positive impact for the representation of disability on Australian screens and ‘behind the camera’.

With an operating budget of over $100m per year, there is no reason why Screen Australia should not lead the way with Disability Matters, and thereby tangibly demonstrate their commitment to diversity as expressed in the foreword to Seeing Ourselves 2, in which Graeme Mason stated that “all Australians have the right to be included in the stories we tell about ourselves”.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Curzon is a writer and producer with twenty-five years of experience in the Australian film industry. He is also a sessional academic at UNSW and AFTRS, teaching across screen studies, VR and broadcast journalism. David has produced several successful short films, including the Hot Shots funded Passengers and the Berlinale-premiered Tomorrow. He has also been involved in the development of several feature projects, and script-edited the Ladakhi film Chuskit. Currently completing a master’s degree on the representation of disability on Australian screens, David believes in making inclusive and inspiring character driven stories for Australian and international audiences.