TAP, ScreenSkills launch resource hub for deaf, disabled, neurodivergent talent

The TV Access Project (TAP) and ScreenSkills have launched an  Employment Resources hub to support deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent talent - and allies - navigate a career through the screen industries, understand their employment rights, and facilitate conversations about access.

The hub was created in response to feedback in TAP focus groups from disabled freelancers about a lack of clarity over legal rights, how to ask for them, and support resources that are available.

The TV Access Project Employment Resources hub is formed of six sections:

• Recruitment
• On the job - including employment/legal rights and ways to access support
• Career development - including networking, mentoring, and training
• Resources and links
• FAQs

It also includes the TAP-developed Access Passport, that will remove barriers and support better inclusion of disabled freelancers at work. The passport is transferable with contracts and reduces the need for talent to repeatedly disclose their adjustment needs to each new employer or manager.

The launch event on June 12 is free to attend and open to all and features a keynote speech from screenwriter and producer Jack Thorne, whose credits include Netflix's Enola Holmes films and the BBC's television programme His Dark Materials, as well as panels and speakers. 

TAP is an alliance of the UK’s biggest broadcasters and streamers including BBC, Britbox, Channel 4, Disney+ UK, ITV, Paramount, Prime Video, Sky, STV and UKTV, who have pledged to work together to create a substantive and permanent structural shift which will ensure access provision for deaf, disabled and neurodivergent talent.

The launch of the employment resources hub marks the next phase in ScreenSkills’ ongoing partnership with TAP, building on the resources already hosted on its website, including the 5As guidelines for disability inclusion in UK television production, launched in 2023.