Oath, NDLA and Getty Images Launch New Disability Image Collection

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[Editor’s Note: Not Dead Yet is a member of the Steering Committee of the National Disability Leadership Alliance (NDLA). Below is the project’s press release, to which I added a personal quote for our own distribution of this announcement.]

Launching on Global Accessibility Awareness Day, the partnership aims to depict authentic and diverse representations of people with disabilities in the media

New York, NY – May 17, 2018 – Oath, a subsidiary of Verizon (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) and a global media and technology company, today announced a partnership with the National Disability Leadership Alliance (NDLA), a cross-disability coalition led by 17 national organizations headed by people with disabilities, and Getty Images, a world leader in visual communications, to launch The Disability Collection – a growing collection of images that more accurately portrays individuals with disabilities and breaks stereotypes. To expand and grow the Collection, Oath, the NDLA and Getty Images developed a comprehensive set of guidelines for how to authentically reflect people with disabilities in photography, which will be shared and promoted across Getty Images’ global network of photographers, launching today on Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

“People with disabilities have historically been underrepresented, and often misrepresented in the media,” said Mike Shebanek, Head of Accessibility at Oath. “We believe the media has the power to shut down stereotypes and we are calling on the industry to commit to more inclusive representation. Together we can create this long overdue change.”

Many of the images of disability that are traditionally used in the media reflect only the “heroic” or the “pitiful”— stereotypes of disability. The Disability Collection will repicture disability in a way that is dignified, modern, diverse, authentic and human. The project invites photographers to portray disability as a natural part of someone’s identity, instead of portraying disability as something that needs to be “cured,” “fixed” or overcome. Disability is intersectional so the Collection will intentionally include representation across age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identification, socio-economic, religion and culture with a focus on traditionally underrepresented groups.

“At a time when imagery is the most widely spoken global language, it has never been more important to produce and promote a visual language that is progressive and inclusive, and to support diverse voices in doing so,” said Rebecca Swift, Director of Visual Insights at Getty Images. “While we cannot change what people publish or click on overnight, we can provide better alternatives for those looking to create more authentic stories. The Disability Collection strives to be a collection of authentic and empowering images of people with disabilities in everyday life.”

Getty Images’ customer search data shows the significant desire for high-quality, modern images that accurately represent people with disabilities. Global search data from 2016 to 2017 indicates that searches for “wheelchair access” increased 371% year over year on GettyImages.com. Additionally, “disabled worker” was up 254%, “autism awareness” increased 196%, and “deafness” was up 144%.

“Member organizations of the National Disability Leadership Alliance – and the disability community in general – have worked for decades to see ourselves accurately reflected in media. Despite some progress, often the media still gets important details wrong,” said James Weisman, NDLA Steering Committee. “This landmark initiative — the first of its kind developed with the guidance of the disability community itself — signals a promising new way forward. Oath and Getty Images understand that media will only get real about disability when disabled people lead the way. NDLA is thrilled about the launch of the collaboration and its future growth.”

“As a member of NDLA’s Steering Committee, I’m hopeful that these images will help challenge the ‘better dead than disabled’ mindset that’s all too prevalent in Hollywood,” said Diane Coleman, president and CEO of Not Dead Yet. “The images are active, fun, and people need to see that.”

Disability leaders have been central to this project since the formation, and the project is guided by insights from disability-specific focus groups hosted by Oath and the NDLA. Oath, the NDLA, and Getty are encouraging photographers, including those with disabilities, to join in creating and growing this groundbreaking Collection. Getty Images and Oath will be providing the necessary resources and opportunities to help content creators broadcast their vision, including funding art directed shoots and competitions that encourage photographers to capture this imagery.

To learn more about The Disability Collection, visit www.thedisabilitycollection.com.

About Oath

Oath, a subsidiary of Verizon, is a values-led company committed to building brands people love. Oath reaches one billion people around the world with a dynamic house of media and technology brands. A global leader in digital and mobile, Oath is shaping the future of media and technology. For more on Oath, visit www.oath.com. Learn more about the work Accessibility at Oath is doing at Oath.com/Accessibility.

About Getty Images

Getty Images is one of the most trusted and esteemed sources of visual content in the world, with over 300 million assets including photos, videos, and music, available through its industry-leading sites www.gettyimages.com and www.istock.com. The Getty Images website serves creative, business and media customers in nearly every country in the world and is the first place people turn to discover, purchase and share powerful visual content from the world’s best photographers and videographers. Getty Images works with over 240,000 contributors and hundreds of image partners to provide comprehensive coverage of more than 160,000 news, sport and entertainment events each year, impactful creative imagery to communicate any commercial concept and the world’s deepest digital archive of historic photography.

Visit Getty Images at www.gettyimages.com to learn more about how the company is advancing the unique role of still and moving imagery in communication and business, and enabling creative ideas to come to life. For company news and announcements, visit our Press Room, and for the stories and inspiration behind our content, visit Stories & Trends. Find Getty Images on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Tumblr, or download the Getty Images app where you can explore, save and share the world’s best imagery.

About the National Disability Leadership Alliance

National Disability Leadership Alliance (NDLA) is a national cross-disability coalition that represents the authentic voice of people with disabilities. NDLA is led by 15 national organizations run by people with disabilities with identifiable grassroots constituencies around the country. The NDLA steering committee includes: ADAPT, the American Association of People with Disabilities, the American Council of the Blind, the Association of Programs for Rural Independent Living, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, the Hearing Loss Association of America, Little People of America, the National Association of the Deaf, the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery, the National Council on Independent Living, the National Federation of the Blind, the National Organization of Nurses with Disabilities, Not Dead Yet, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Self-Advocates Becoming Empowered, and the United Spinal Association.

Diane Coleman’s Letter Published In Daily Star

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On May 4th, the Daily Star in Oneonta, New York published an editorial in favor of legalizing assisted suicide. Among other things, it completely ignored the opposition of many disability organizations, whose leaders testified very strongly against the NY assisted suicide bills in hearings held April 23rd and May 3rd. The following letter to the editor from Diane Coleman responding to the editorial was published today:

The Daily Star’s opinion piece in support of legalizing assisted suicide [May 4, Aid-in-dying bill should get state approval] left out a major group when it mentioned the bill’s opponents, including religious opponents and physicians, but omitting disability organizations.

Among the groups testifying against assisted suicide bills at the recent Assembly Health Committee hearings were ADAPT, Center for Disability Rights, Center for Independence of the Disabled-NY, Jewish Disability Empowerment Center, Not Dead Yet and United Spinal Association.

Comparing people with a terminal prognosis to a pet that is “unable to care for itself and is in constant pain” raises understandable concerns among disabled people who need personal care services like me. When it comes to killing our pets, studies show it’s more about putting them out of the owner’s misery than the pet’s.

Pain is not the issue reported by people requesting assisted suicide in states where it’s legal, but rather feelings like “loss of dignity” and “being a burden on others,” disability issues that can be successfully addressed by supports like consumer-controlled in-home care and peer counseling.

So let’s stop conflating pets and people. In a society with an alarming increase in elder abuse, the risks of coercion and foul play should be obvious. There are no “safeguards” that work behind closed doors. Bills that put lethal drugs in the home of an old or disabled person are too dangerous to pass.

Diane Coleman
Rochester

Coleman is president and CEO of Not Dead Yet.

More Testimony From NYC: Jose Hernandez and Sharon Shapiro-Lacks

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Anita Cameron, Jose Hernandez and Julie Farrar seated side-by-side in their wheelchairs.

Here are some more great testimonies shared with the New York Assembly Health Committee on May 3.

Jose Hernandez shared his mother’s story in a powerful and moving letter:

My mother was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer in 1988 when she was just 28 years old in Puerto Rico. They had given her 6 months to live. My mother and my father made the decision to get her to the United States immediately for treatment. . . .

My mother survived 13 years. Yes, there was pain, yes there was depression, however despite all of the pain and depression, there were moments of joy: 13 Thanksgivings, 13 Christmases, 13 New Year’s, close to 39 birthdays (not including hers), and all of the precious memories I have of my mother doing simple things like turning on the Spanish music every Saturday and dancing with the mop while she cleaned the house.

To read Jose’s whole letter and see his family photos, go here (PDF) or here (HTML).

Sharon Shapiro-Lacks testified before the Committee on behalf of Yad HaChazakah-The Jewish Disability Empowerment Center:

We . . . proclaim that doctors and mental health professionals, who are members of the broader society, are too tainted by centuries old fears of disability in order to determine who is rational and who has good reason to die.

We oppose giving the medical establishment, with the input of mental health professionals, the ability to prescribe life-ending drugs months or weeks before one’s projected time of natural death. Their evaluations will be based upon their predominant ableist attitudes about what constitutes “quality of life”. We are opposed to giving insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid a convenient way to save on health care and hospice costs. If this bill is passed into law, disabled folks and seniors living on fixed incomes who are sentenced with 6 months or less to live will too easily be granted deadly doses.

To read Sharon’s whole testimony, go here (PDF) or here (HTML).

Anita Cameron and Stephanie Woodward Testify At NY Assisted Suicide Hearing

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AM New York interviewed advocates on both sides of the assisted suicide issue at the all day hearing held in New York City on May 3, 2018. Here are the disability quotes:

Opponents of the bill have expressed concerns for the disabled community and what they say is a tendency for medical professionals to underestimate their will to live. Opponents also say medical professionals assume that the patient would rather die than incur debt.

“Doctors tend to devalue our lives, tend to feel that we don’t have quality of life when we feel that we do,” said Anita Cameron, director of minority outreach for Not Dead Yet, a disability rights group fighting against assisted suicide. Cameron suffers from multiple sclerosis, congenital cerebellar ataxia, and diabetes. She said she knows one of her diseases “is going to take her life” and lives in pain, but can’t see herself ending her own life. “I don’t want to die, I have way too much to live for,” said Cameron.

Another concern is that a doctor’s word on how long a patient has left is often not correct. Multiple people, including Cameron, testified Thursday that their loved ones far outlived their doctor’s expectations.

Jose Hernandez, 38, said his mother lived for 13 years after she was diagnosed with stage IV ovarian cancer in 1988. “There was 13 birthdays, 13 Christmases, 13 Thanksgivings that would have not happened if this medication was available,” said Hernandez. “I wouldn’t have been able to share those precious moments with my mother.”

To read the rest of the article, go here.

We’re hoping to feature more of the excellent disability advocates’ testimonies from the hearing, but for now, we have:

Testimony of Anita Cameron On Behalf of NDY Opposing New York Assisted Suicide Bill A2383A http://notdeadyet.org/testimony-of-anita-cameron-opposing-new-york-assisted-suicide-bill-a2383a

 

 

 

Testimony of Stephanie Woodward On Behalf of ADAPT Opposing New York Assisted Suicide Bill A2383A Stephanie Woodward’s Testimony for ADAPT Opposing NY Assisted Suicide Bills (05/03/18) (PDF Version)

 

 

 

Press Release: Disability Advocates Testify In NYC Against Assisted Suicide Bill

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Not Dead Yet, the Resistance

For Immediate Release             Contacts:  Anita Cameron 720-413-9064
May 3, 2018                                               Diane Coleman 708-420-0539

(New York, NY) Disability rights advocates will testify at a New York Assembly Health Committee hearing today in opposition to a proposed bill (A.2383-A) legalizing doctor assisted suicide. The hearing will be held at 250 Broadway in Manhattan beginning at 11:00 a.m.

Disability advocates invited by the Health Committee to testify include:

  • Anita Cameron, Director of Minority Outreach, Not Dead Yet
  • Stephanie Woodward, Organizer, ADAPT
  • Sharon Shapiro-Lacks, Executive Director, Yad HaChazakah-The Jewish Disability Empowerment Center Inc.
  • Susan Dooha, Executive Director, Center for Independence of the Disabled-NY

Cameron was among scores of disability rights advocates dragged out of Congressional offices and hearings last summer and arrested in connection with efforts to save healthcare from Republican cuts.

Cameron will testify about her family experiences with terminal prognoses that were vastly incorrect.

“As disabled people know very well, doctors often make mistakes about whether a person is terminal or not. In June, 2009, while living in Washington state, my mother was determined to be in the final stages of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and placed in hospice. Two months later, I was told that her body had begun the process of dying. . . Almost nine years later, she is still alive, lives in her own home in the community and is reasonably active.”

Cameron is also deeply concerned about the cost-cutting pressures in healthcare. “Although assisted suicide requests in Oregon are lower among Blacks and people of color, that doesn’t mean that this won’t change in more diverse areas, especially as healthcare support lessens,” she said. “Because of the racist, profit-driven nature of our health care system and the tendency of doctors to devalue the lives of disabled, people of color and the poor, assisted suicide has no place as an option in New York.”

Woodward’s testimony will focus on the critical need for home care for people with advanced illnesses and disabilities so they do not feel like a burden on their families, a common reason for assisted suicide requests, and are not forced into nursing facilities. “New York State will not give us the services and supports we need to live in the community, but will give us assisted suicide and call it a choice,” Woodward said.

Not Dead Yet (notdeadyet.org) is part of the New York Alliance Against Assisted Suicide (nosuicideny.org), an informal association of many diverse organizations committed to preventing the legalization of assisted suicide in the state.