The National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP), in collaboration with O.P. Jindal Global University and EXL, launched a media toolkit titled 'A Guide to Reporting Disability' on Tuesday. This initiative aims to provide journalists with comprehensive guidelines on respectful language, best practices, and strategies to engage with disability issues thoughtfully, ensuring accurate and sensitive representation in media.

Arman Ali, Executive Director of NCPEDP, emphasized the importance of the toolkit in reshaping narratives around disability. “This toolkit has been developed to equip journalists with the tools to report on disability with accuracy and respect. It promotes the use of empowering language that highlights rights and capabilities, not just challenges, and serves as a resource for understanding the socio-political and legal framework governing disability rights in India, such as the RPWD Act 2016 and the UNCRPD,” he remarked. Ali expressed hope that the initiative would contribute to building a media landscape where persons with disabilities are portrayed as individuals with equal rights, aspirations, and contributions, rather than as victims or heroes.

The launch was followed by a panel discussion titled "The Role of Media in Shaping the Discourse on Disability," moderated by Professor Kishalay Bhattacharjee, Dean of the Jindal School of Journalism and Communication at O.P. Jindal Global University. Panellists included Arman Ali; Dr. Navneet Anand, Founder Director of GreyMatters Communications; Bharat Sharma, Senior Assistant Vice President – Transformation and Solutioning at EXL; and Muskan Jain, Assistant Vice President – Global Corporate Social Responsibility Lead at EXL.

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