Why non-disabled audiences must play their part in ‘busting the bias’

At every level, the film industry fails to be inclusive for Disabled people. From casting and production to cinema exhibition, barriers of access stand in the way. Unfortunately for non-disabled decision makers there is no simple solution or single set of guidelines that will assuage the ‘problem’ of Disability, meaning that they must actually listen to Disabled people themselves if they wish to increase accessibility to film. 

This is why events such as the Busting the Bias weekend at BFI Southbank are so important. Not simply as a programme of films targeting the faculties of empathy within non-disabled viewers, but as a consultation with Disabled filmmakers, actors, writers and audiences about what changes they would like to see made across film-focused institutions.

Changes are already being made in terms of presentation based on conversations held around exhibition. All of the weekend’s screenings are presented with descriptive subtitles, with audio description also available in most cases, and the introductions and talks will be accompanied by live-captioning and BSL interpreters. 

It’s important that these provisions should not be seen as exceptional. The BFI, along with cinemas across the UK, host relaxed screenings for neurodivergent audiences; however, it is essential that these screenings are integrated into regular programming. Part of ‘Busting the Bias’ is to acclimatise non-disabled and neurotypical audiences to access provisions, to not be bothered by them and work towards higher levels of understanding, to not perceive access as an inconvenience to those who do not require it.

The events of the weekend strive to reframe the conversation around Disability and cinema from the perspective of Disabled people. The programme opens on Friday 3 March with a keynote speech from the incoming chair of the BFI’s Disability Screen Advisory Group (DSAG), Kyla Harris, and a talk from filmmaker Ella Glendining, whose debut feature, Is There Anybody Out There?, premiered at Sundance in January. Glendining highlights the singularity of Disability, of how each Disabled person moves through the world without exact precedent and must constantly forge a form of access unique to them.

These themes are prevalent in the shorts programme, entitled ECLECTIC, to be screened following the talks. Curated by deafblind access consultant Charlie Little, the films will also be available to view free on BFI Player from 3 March for a month. In Imagination (2016), Jemima Hughes uses animation as a liberated medium to explore what an accessible urban landscape might look like for her. Nathan Morris’s My Eyes Are Up Here (2022) looks at the assumptions made about a Disabled woman’s body and sexual function through the romcom genre. Disabled creatives and artists talk about the barriers to work they often face in documentary Call Us Criptic (2020), while the drama Verisimilitude (2020) – directed by David Proud – asks the question of who should be allowed to play Disabled characters on screen. The programme also features Jonny Cotsen’s short Louder Is Not Always Clearer (2021), which uses audiovisual techniques to frame the world from his perspective as a Deaf person. 

Even within a short programme, these films viewed collectively demonstrate only a small element of the diversity of Disabled experience. A significant part of ‘Busting the Bias’ is acknowledging the nuance and complexity of the work that everyone in cinema behind and in front of the screen needs to do. Some of the technologies being developed to meet access requirements will be demonstrated in the BFI Reuben Library on 4 March for the Reimagined Cinema event. It will be followed by a relaxed screening of Shy Radicals (2020), a short documentary about artist, activist and author Hamja Ahsan who will discuss the film in-person, including the ways in which introverted people can unify to overthrow “Extrovert-Supremacy”.

Ahsan’s work highlights the fact that change is always made by confident, extroverted people, the majority of whom are not Disabled. It is unjust to expect every Disabled person to fight for their place in cinema, which is why making the conversation itself accessible is paramount. Empathy is a vital part of ‘Busting the Bias’, but Disabled people should never be required to explain themselves, their diagnoses or their identities. 

The weekend concludes with a screening of I Didn’t See You There, a documentary by Reid Davenport shot entirely from his perspective. When a circus comes to town, he reflects on the legacy of ‘freak shows’ and his repeated frustrations at the ignorance of non-disabled people. The damage done by the historic representation of Disabled people is ubiquitous, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be changed. This Busting the Bias weekend will help to further the discourse and showcase how that change is being enacted, and what part we can all play in continuing to make the film industry more inclusive.

Busting the Bias runs 3 to 5 March 2023 at BFI Southbank.