News designed our way

Maybe it comes to all parents: a moment when you realise that your child has changed the way you think about the world.

You suddenly have strong opinions about things you never thought about before. Your work takes a different focus. You become an ally, a campaigner even. You change.

This is how it was for me.

After my daughter Katy, now 11, was born with a rare disorder that caused a learning disability, I had the pleasure of getting to know a vibrant community of disabled and neurodivergent people. They shifted my gaze.

I began to question how well my profession – broadcast journalists – were serving this community. Of course, people with a learning disability do feature in the news – often related to a stories of abuse or neglect – but was anyone creating news that was aimed at them as an audience?

Digging into this led to my recently published research as a fellow of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.

When I started looking into the issues, I found UK non-profit organisation United Response creates easy-read news once a week, and charities such as Mencap create resources around big events and stories such as elections.

Such initiatives are to be applauded but cannot be described as mainstream news services.

Indeed, when news broadcasters do cover learning disabilities – for example in investigations – they do not make accessible versions of their reports available.

So much for “nothing about us without us”.

Looking deeper, I found that the BBC had undertaken thorough research into the media consumption of people with learning disabilities in 2005.

The report, Not Seen, Not Heard, found that this community struggled to understand the news, with one in three respondents saying it went too quickly and almost half saying it featured difficult language.

News reporters assumed too much background knowledge, and people with a learning disability found the news overwhelming and upsetting.

The report recommended the BBC consider making an accessible news programme. But this did not happen, and the need is still there – as I have discovered in my own research.

In an audience panel I helped convene last year for the BBC, all six participants were interested in the news but found regular TV broadcasts difficult to follow.

As one said simply: “Sometimes I wish the reporters could speak slowly so there is time to understand what is happening.”

This panel also agreed that the news was upsetting. Another participant said: “A lot of news seems like it’s made to distress people, made to make people scared. And it’s not fair for some people – especially for people with a learning disability.”

People with learning disabilities are not alone in finding the news overwhelming. But incomplete understanding of reports and a lack of background knowledge make it worse for them.

For example, a report about a fire is more frightening if you don’t understand where the fire is or how rare such occurrences are.

Sometimes people with learning disabilities are prevented from watching the news by their carers because it upsets them. On the other hand, carers can help explain events or unpack news reports. Either way, people’s access to news is mediated by others.

As one person with a learning disability put it to me last year: “Sometimes, I have to ask my dad what’s going on and then I get my dad’s opinions.”

All of this is clearly a problem. Access to impartial and accurate news is a vital part of living in a democracy. People with a learning disability have the right to vote, but what use is that if they don’t have access to information about key social issues?

Essential for advocacy

This is not an issue just at election time. People need information in order to discuss issues, campaign and make things better.

I have come to believe that the lack of accessible news might be holding back the UK’s self-advocacy movement.

So what of the solutions? People with a learning disability need their own bespoke news service. The good news is that this is already happening around the world, and there are great models the UK can learn from.

Last year, I completed my fellowship at the Reuters Institute, funded by the BBC. I looked closely at different approaches to accessible news and asked people with a learning disability what they wanted from broadcasters.

Accessible or easy-to-understand news falls into two broad categories.

The first category emphasises accessibility. Across Europe, many public service broadcasters create versions of their news bulletins that are slower and much easier to understand.

These easy bulletins are not only for people with learning disabilities but also for people with other cognitive impairments such as dementia, as well as those learning the language.

The second category of approach emphasises representation. These news providers, some of which are non-governmental organisations or charities, take the audience’s needs as their starting point.

They run features about issues that are of importance to the community, and the news is presented and sometimes produced by people with a learning disability.

In discussions with people with learning disabilities, I found they valued both aspects of inclusion – accessibility and representation – equally.

Then they said they wanted news to do more than just tell them what was happening in the world. They wanted it to give them information that could help them in their day-to-day lives and keep them safe.

In my report, How to Make Easier News for People with a Learning Disability (PDF), I make recommendations for the BBC and other public service broadcasters. None of them are particularly hard to achieve.

With the BBC’s charter up for negotiation, this is a good moment for the learning disability community to demand more from their news providers.

In Germany and Austria, public broadcasters must produce accessible news by law.

So will my own daughter, Katy, one day access news she can understand? I don’t know but I doubt it. As far as I know, Katy, who is non-verbal with profound and multiple learning disabilities, has no concept of news or current affairs.

For everyone?

In short, even if we make the news as easy as we can, I think there will always be some people who will not understand it.

Nevertheless, I believe news made by and for people with a learning disability will improve the world for Katy and people like her. And I think that anyone who wants to understand what’s happening in the world could and should have access to news they can understand. Let’s make this happen.

William Kremer is a BBC radio producer and 2025 fellow of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism