The Bookseller asked me to write about my experiences of disability and working in publishing. It’s the most terrifying and painfully honest thing I’ve ever written, but I hope it can be a useful part of the important ongoing conversations about diversity in the industry.
"We need to discuss practices that place productivity and profit over people, and workplace culture that sees sick days as moral failings rather than an inevitability of being human."
A searing piece from @CatMitchell17 on disability in publishing: https://t.co/ihtBkytgtS
Fab comment piece by @penny_author & @CatMitchell17 in Disability Takeover issue of @thebookseller
Industry initiatives incl ref to upcoming Reflecting Disability Project report due later this year (two. in children’s books)
#DisabilityPrideMonth
https://t.co/3kZMZiz8oK.
"We still have a long way to go for disabled authors and staff to achieve parity with their non-disabled colleagues." @penny_author and @CatMitchell17 discuss what you can do to become a disibility ally in this week's disability focus 👇
https://t.co/l3gFvgri8O
Not celebrating Disability Pride is a missed opportunity to show that disabled people are a priority in publishing, to be both supported and celebrated, says Cat Mitchell (@CatMitchell17) 👇 https://t.co/Url68lTAai
Over the moon to see Real When I'm With You featured in @thebookseller's Disability Previews - thank you, @pollyrowena!
And a huge congratulations to @penny_author and @CatMitchell17 on the return of the much-needed, vital Disability Focus, more important than ever to support.
Very proud moment ahead of Disability Pride Month in July: Penny Batchelor and I co-edited a disability spotlight in this week’s @thebookseller magazine 📚📚
Big thanks to everyone involved in the issue and who provided quotes and info! https://t.co/X6iwLHVhrb
A huge dream-come-true moment: this August I’ll be speaking at @edbookfest about disability in publishing! We’ll be discussing the work of @InklusionGuide and what the future holds for disability activism in the sector. More details here:
https://t.co/Lsyo1WC5bE
2. Sadly space is tight & we can't commission features but we'd love to hear from disabled/chronically ill authors/booksellers/publishing staff whether they think the publishing industry has improved for us over the past five years and if not, what would make most difference?
This piece covers a lot of the accessibility issues at LBF and although it became a bit of a giggle when I went last week, the difficulty of finding different levels/floors, finding lifts and the lack of signage/maps really was quite ridiculous for an event of this size!
My article on the accessibility of the London Book Fair is out today with @thebookseller. A big thank you to everyone who I interviewed for the piece!
You can read it here: https://t.co/LAM3TzXIPz
I love joking about how Olympia is the seventh circle of autistic hell, but this article is so important - I had no idea there was a dedicated quiet space, but by the sound of it, that space was lacking anyway. Big kudos to Cat for spotlighting LBF’s accessibility issues!
I missed visiting @LondonBookFair during my @DerbyPublishing degree due to the pandemic.
But this great piece by @CatMitchell17 for @thebookseller explores accessibility at this exhibition & where how it could improve future events. 📚
https://t.co/RCG5FUulqJ