Los Angeles, CA – April 6, 2021 - With the help of many Disabled creators, Nasreen Alkhateeb has published a toolkit that will give producers their first steps in creating a truly inclusive physical production. This will answer the question: what if we approached the act of physical storytelling with the notion that everyone is welcomed to help tell that story? 

“The perception of what it might be like to work with a disabled person, is broken. Disability is a spectrum. That definition includes someone with anxiety or someone who is pregnant. You might acquire your disability suddenly like I did, or you might have been born with your disability. Disabled or not, everyone has needs.” Nasreen interviewed film and television crew who are neuro-divergent, Deaf, are autistic, blind, have low vision, anxiety, fibromyalgia, crohn’s, delayed sleep phase syndrome, and use a wheelchair, to build a map of how producers can approach their next production.

Physical Productions, like most environments, are currently designed for non disabled people. By asking everyone from our production assistants to the editor, what they may need to help them create their best possible production day, the momentum towards equity and inclusion will continue to grow.

“According to Neilson, 25% of adults in the United States are disabled. That is equal to over a trillion dollar gap in the market waiting to be filled.” If we had more disabled storytellers writing, directing, and filming those stories, then that gap will slowly start to close.

As the industry strives to be more inclusive of gender, ethnic heritage, and sexuality, why would we exclude 25% of our collective stories?