Revealed: British Broadcasters & Streamers Demand Change From UK Studios On “Clear & Disturbing” Disabled Access Issues As They Launch The TV Access Project

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Britain’s major broadcasters and streamers are taking a stand on “clear and disturbing” access issues impacting the industry’s disabled population and have demanded change from studios and post-production facilities.Deadline can exclusively reveal that the flagship cross-industry initiative to be launched at this week’s Edinburgh Television Festival will be the TV Access Project (TAP), a blueprint to rid the sector of appalling accessibility problems, spearheaded by BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore.The BBC, Channel 4, Britbox International, Disney+ UK, ITV, Paramount, Prime Video, Sky and UKTV are all signed up to TAP and the project has backing from influential producer trade body Pact and the Creative Diversity Network (CDN).TAP began quietly in April when Moore, one of the most powerful people in British broadcasting, helped convene a pan-industry roundtable between disabled creatives, UK industry bosses and groups such as Pact, the CDN, Triple C DANC (Disabled Artists Networking Community) and DDPTV (Deaf and Disabled People in TV) to discuss accessibility and the state of facilities.Those facilities had been slammed in a report entitled Everyone Forgot About the Toilets from Underlying Health Condition (UHC), the lobby group unveiled by last year’s MacTaggart lecturer Jack Thorne during his blistering broadside that lambasted the industry for “utterly and totally failing disabled people.” The damning report revealed a “clear and disturbing” lack of accessible honey wagons, trailers and toilets across the UK, coming at a time when the industry is desperately seeking more disabled talent and production is booming.A series of roundtables have since focused on access on productions and access in