Disability-Inclusive Language
Click here for a transcript of this webinar.
The Pledge Learning Series is for Disability Inclusion Pledge signatories and is intended to build a community to learn together. The series will provide participants with key resources as well as safe spaces for “real talk” about questions that come up throughout the journey.
One of the core tenets of the Disability Inclusion Pledge is a commitment to using and uplifting disability-inclusive language. Join Gail Fuller, Program and Communications Director for the Disability & Philanthropy Forum, and Cara Reedy, Media Narrative Director at the Disabled Journalists Association, to participate in open, honest dialogue about the power of disability-inclusive language. Topics we’ll cover include, but are not limited to:
- How to address conflicting language preferences among the disability community.
- How your organization can ensure the language used in communications is affirming of disability.
- How to engage disability consultants on language-related policies and practices in order to be more welcoming of grantees focused on disability-inclusive work.
About the Panelists
Cara Reedy, Director, Disabled Journalists Association
Cara Reedy is the Media Narrative Director at Disabled Journalists Association (a member organization of Storyline Partners). She is a journalist and producer who spent ten years of her career at CNN producing documentaries as well as writing for various verticals including Eatocracy and CNN Business. In 2019, she produced her most recent short doc for The Guardian entitled Dwarfism and Me, which was an exploration of the treatment of Dwarfs in American society.
Gail Fuller, Program and Communications Director, Disability & Philanthropy Forum
Gail Fuller is the program and communications director for the Disability & Philanthropy Forum. As a black woman with a non-apparent disability, Gail is committed to aligning her professional and personal experiences to engage the philanthropic sector in a collective learning journey about disability that moves toward a more equitable, inclusive future.
With more than 30 years of experience, Gail’s career has included serving as vice president of marketing and communications for the San Francisco Foundation and director of communications for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Click here to read Gail’s story “Black and Disabled: I Have Lived in the Shadows.”