By Lauren Milideo
People with disabilities account for 26% of the American population, according to the CDC, yet news stories rarely cover the community, said Christopher Roush, Dean of the Quinnipiac University School of Communications.
In 2020, Roush decided to change that, launching Ability Media and hiring seven-time Emmy winner and former ESPN editor Dave Stevens to lead the team as a professional-in-residence. Stevens, a former high-school and college athlete – to this day the only college football player ever who did not have legs – came to the role with decades of media experience as well as a lifetime of experience as an American with disabilities.
“These are college kids and me that are putting together just amazing content, for the disabled, by the disabled,” Stevens said. “And we just need to get eyes on us because we want to grow. I'd like to have affiliates at every college or university that create content. And we become like this big PBS-type service for people.”
Students work with Ability Media through a student organization in the School of Communications with some receiving internship credit and also getting paid.
“Many of the student reporters either have a physical or a learning disability, or they have somebody in their family that has a disability,” Roush said. “Or they're just passionate about the topic.”
Those who have not personally experienced having a disability learn much from their work with Ability Media, Roush said. “This has been really educational for students who do not have a disability,” he said. “They've never been exposed to anything like this before.”
Stories can be local, regional or national on an enormous range of topics, Roush said.
For example, Santino Maione wrote about The Long Island Bombers, who compete in an adaptive sports league, where many of the players are blind and visually impaired.
“These are teams that have not gotten a lot of coverage and with the strides they’re making in the world of adaptive sports” the junior journalism major said. “They definitely deserve more coverage going forward, and I was happy and proud to feature them in an article for Ability Media.”
“People in the disabled community still have the ability to achieve and accomplish whatever they set their minds to,” Maione said. “I mean it's right there in the name of the organization, Ability Media. It's to highlight that all people, even those that may have a disability have an ability to work in whatever field they choose.”
Another recent story featured a race car with accessibility features that allow people with disabilities to drive it. Another focused on disability activist Lois Curtis. A more local story focused on the Waterbury, Connecticut YMCA, which settled following a family’s complaint that its after-school program did not provide adequate services for their child with autism spectrum disorder.
The students also produced a 15-minute video on Runway of Dreams -- a fashion show in New York for disability clothing, Roush said. “It's print stories,” Roush said. “It's video stories on our YouTube channel and it's podcasts.”
Ability Media distributes the work through a newsletter, social media channels, and the program’s website. Audiences for the work vary, from Quinnipiac students and local readers to national disability advocates.
The content is produced by the students and edited by Roush and Stevens to ensure it meets journalistic standards. Although some of their stories run in the student newspaper the Quinnipiac Chronicle, Ability Media does not partner with other news outlets or organizations, yet.
Looking forward Roush and Stevens would like to see the stories picked up by more regional and national outlets.
“We need to be covering these stories, but the one thing we have struggled with, frankly, is getting the local media to understand that they can they can pick up these stories, that we're offering these stories to them.”
Roush would also like to work with other colleges and universities and ultimately create a full-time position to focus on Ability Media.
For more Information:
Chris Roush, Dean and Professor
School of Communications
christopher.roush@quinnipiac.edu
Professional in the Practice
Dave.Stevens@quinnipiac.edu