Democracy For All
The way that election candidates communicate their messages can often be inaccessible and confusing. This can be especially challenging for those who have a learning disability. For this documentary, I talked with a number of people who have a learning disability and asked them whether enough was being done to help them engage in the political process. I also spoke to those who support people with learning disabilities and put questions to the politicians themselves.
Democracy For All is the follow-up to a radio documentary that I put together when studying for a Postgraduate Certificate in Creative Media back in 2010. Changed Forever was broadcast on Brighton’s Radio Reverb and won the University of Brighton’s Fred Inglis Prize for Media Literacy. I went into this first project looking at the extent to which social media was changing how we engage in politics and elections. As I write this in 2022, such a topic feels well and truly from another era now that political debates, information (and misinformation) dominate our smartphones, tablets and laptops! However, when interviewing the late Conservative MP for Hove, Mike Weatherley, it became apparent that there were thousands of voters who were being overlooked by political parties and their campaigns. I met Mike when he was speaking at a supported living service and after gauging his thoughts on the topic, I spent the rest of the day talking to residents and support workers about their experiences of the current election and engaging in politics more generally.
Many of the residents I spoke with did have a good understanding of the political parties and their manifestos. However, others would be able to engage more if political parties made their campaigns accessible. This includes using clearer language in printed material as well as making manifestos available in easy-read at an early stage in elections. Changed Forever also featured interviews with Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas, former Labour MP Des Turner, Liberal Democract Candidate Paul Chandler as well as candidate for the Trade Union and Social Coalition David Hill.
Five years after Changed Forever, I wanted to explore what progress had been made when it came to making elections, and ultimately democracy, more accessible to people with learning disabilities. I will write in more detail about this in a future blog post on this website, however, you can gauge what progress had been made since 2010, as well as how far there is still to go by watching Democracy For All!
Democracy For All would not have been possible without the support of the charities Grace Eyre, Mencap and Brighton and Hove Speak Out. The film was particularly well received and featured as a news item on Brighton’s Latest TV. It would also be a work which would later provide the spring-board for many of the projects that I am working on today!
After being shown on Latest TV, as well as attracting an overwhelmingly positive response on social media, I was invited to deliver a screening and talk about the film to the University of Brighton’s Disability Research Network. Later on, I helped transform the Network into a film screening titled A Different Lens. This event was headlined by the documentary Heavy Load and reunited the cast with the film’s Director Jerry Rothwell in what was truly an irreverent, fun and very punk night out! Our guests also included the co-founder of Stay Up Late, and Heavy Load bassist, Paul Richards who was instrumental in helping create such a wonderful and memorable evening.
I am thrilled to continue bringing my skills and knowledge to deliver a variety of inclusive film events as part of The Other Screen!