A practical resource for branches and committees

Disability Access Guide to Equity meetings and events

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Equity’s Deaf and Disabled Members Committee (2023-2025) created this guide on access and inclusion to help give you a deeper understanding of the deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent (DDN) community and how to make your Equity meetings more accessible.

The resources and videos below are designed to help you make Equity meetings fully inclusive, and to direct you towards disabled-led organisations offering further support across the industry.

Inclusive Guide for Meetings and Events

This section is to give you some guidance and tips on how to ensure you are making your meetings and events accessible and equitable for all members to take part.

This guide is broken down to 4 main areas: 

General tips that apply to all meetings

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In person meetings

Online meetings

This is not a definitive guide, and is something that will be regularly assessed and updated to ensure we are evolving as a union to work as universally inclusive as possible. If you have an questions, or would like this information in a different format, please contact the🔗 Deaf and Disabled members committee. 

The 5 A’s : This is a format that the TV Access Project (TAP) uses for all broadcasters and streamers to ensure they are putting access onto every agenda. They are a set of principles that work as a good guide to think about access in any setting or area of work:

Anticipate

Ask

Access

Adjust

Advocat

Definitions, Terminology and Helpful Links

Models of Disability

Social Model

The social model was created by the disabled community, to claim back their identity. It is the preferred model of disability for many people and organisations.

This model is based on the fact that the only reason disabled people struggle to be part of mainstream society is because of the barriers created by society. These barriers can be physical e.g. no level access to a building, no accessible toilets. They can also be communication barriers e.g. no British Sign language (BSL) videos in cinemas explaining what is being show, or no BSL instructions at the train station about train departures. There are also attitudinal barriers, like treating someone as if they are causing an issue when they have access requirements e.g. in order to access a building, or take part in an event.

🔗This video by the National Disability Arts Collection and Archive gives a good visual animal of the social model of disability. 

Other models of disabilities include charity model and medical model. More information about this can be found in the expanded boxes below.

Cultural Model of Deafness

The word 'Deaf' covers a wide spectrum of deafness, including people who are hard of hearing, deafened, or BSL users. It is used to describe anyone who does not hear very much, including people who are hard of hearing.

You may have seen ‘D/deaf’ used when referring to the Deaf community, but the preference at the moment, and the umbrella term for the community as a whole, is 'Deaf'.

Deafness is often categorised on a scale comprising four levels: mild, moderate, severe and profound. Someone who has a mild-to- severe hearing loss may identify as hard of hearing, whereas profoundly deaf individuals will likely use the term Deaf. ‘Hearing impaired’ should not be used as it is considered negative, outdated and offensive.

Rule of thumb: Always check with a person how they like to be identified, as different generations identify with different terminology.

The information below provides an overview of some of the most common communication methods used within the Deaf community.

Understanding Ableism

Ableism is the discrimination and prejudice against people with disabilities. It's based on the assumption that people with disabilities are less worthy of respect and consideration.

Anti-ableism is the practice of challenging and opposing discrimination and prejudice against people with disabilities. It involves acknowledging that ableism exists, and that it harms people.

How to practice anti-ableism:

●    Learn about disability: Understand what disability means and how it affects people. 

●    Challenge ableist comments: Call out ableist comments and explain why they are harmful. 

●    Advocate for accessibility: Support policies and laws that promote accessibility and inclusion. 

●    Listen to people with disabilities: Give people with disabilities a chance to share their experiences. 

●    Be an ally: Promote accessibility and inclusion in your workplace, community, and events. 

●    Use visual descriptions: Provide visual descriptions of people's appearance, pronouns, and accessibility needs. 

Language and Terminology

Language around disability is always changing as DDN people find their identity and place in the world. The terminology someone uses to be identified by will be personal to them. You should only ever need to refer to someone’s identity if it is in relation to their access requirements. 

Although there is no definitive list of terminology, there are some general rules and tips we can give you.

Rule of thumb: All you ever really need to know is what someone’s access requirements are.

Don’t assume. Everybody is different; the best rule of thumb is to avoid any assumptions and to be led by the individual.

Ask: None can be an expert of all disabilities. Don’t be afraid of getting it wrong. No one minds if you get it wrong, if your intention is right.

Intention : Always ask yourself what is your intention behind what you are asking. If you go to say a word and it feels wrong then it probably is.

Rule of thumb: use the umbrella term and then ask the individual what terminology they prefer to describe themselves.

Listed below is some common terminology - expand the heading to find out more.

Unconscious Bias

Understanding our own unconscious bias helps us move to a more inclusive and tolerant way of thinking and working. This is a useful thing to take the time to understand, as it underpins the influences we have grown up around that form how we subconsciously naturally view the world.

🔗Screenskills offer a free unconscious bias basic awareness course.

Check out 🔗Litmos Heroes for a video explanation of unconscious bias.

Access Riders

Access riders, also referred to as 'access forms' or 'access passports', are starting to be recognised and used more and more by the industry. They are a written document outlining what someone requires to do their job. 

Note that:

●     These forms should be tailored to an individual's access requirements to enable them to work to their potential.

●     It is important to give everyone you are teaching or employing one as standard.

●     It is also useful for non- disabled people who may also be carers, single parents etc.

●     Access riders can be tailored to suit the nature of the work you are taking on, including rehearsals and auditions.

●     Templates are good to give you a base and structure to build something on. But use them as just that, a springboard and guide that you can use to mould and create with the individual you are working with to suit their requirements.

🔗Here is a great example of an access rider template. Equity are currently working on their own access rider.

Access to Work

This is a discretionary financial government scheme people can apply for to help them cover access costs to help them get or stay in work if they have a physical or mental health condition or disability.

The support someone will get depends on their requirements. Through Access to Work, someone can apply for:

●     a grant to help pay for practical support with your work

●     support with managing your mental health at work

●     money to pay for communication support at job interviews

This guide is also available on the government’s website in 🔗Welsh (Cymraeg), British Sign Language (BSL) and Easy Read format.

Expand to find out more about Access to Work below.

Covid Safety

Covid-19 is still circulating. It is good to avoid using language around being ‘post’ Covid or the pandemic, as this is not the case and lots of disabled people are still shielding/unable to participate in society fully due to the lack of precautions being taken.

Although everyone is at risk of complications from acute infections and Long Covid (an estimated minimum of 1 in every 10 infections results in Long Covid), many disabled people are at significantly more risk. Covid-19 attacks the immune system, so can be particularly risky for people with suppressed immune systems. 

Lots of useful links can on this topic be found in the article 'Why people are still wearing masks in 2025'.

This is also a good reminder from Unlimited Theatre.

More useful tips

●     Think about your own Unconscious bias, and attitudes towards disability that you have grown up around.

○     Unconscious bias is something we all naturally have, and is developed by our environment, people and society we grow up in.

○     How does it impact the language you automatically use around disability without thinking about the word and what it really means?

○     Understanding it is important is helping us all challenge our own thinking.

●    The social model of disability looks at how to remove the physical and attitudinal barriers that restrict or exclude someone from taking part in mainstream society.

○     It helps us all to recognise the external barriers which make life harder for disabled people; and identify solutions. 

○     Rather than the barrier being the person's issue, and expecting the disabled person to fix or change themselves it puts emphasis on wider society to adapt to ensure disabled people aren’t excluded or disadvantaged.

●     Also be aware of the intersectionality that runs through the community.  Disabled people are like anyone else, they have multiple facets. They may be part of the LGBTQI+ community, and /  or the global majority etc

Further links

Further advice