by Salem Boon

The Bookseller Children’s Conference is a well-respected conference focusing on the development of children’s publishing in the UK. It invited speakers from a range of backgrounds and specialities, so I was so excited to hear that the conference was live streaming its events. 

The Children’s Conference held a talk by Beth Cox and Alex Strick called ‘Quality and quantity: New conversations about disability representation’. Both speakers highlighted the importance of putting disabled voices at the forefront of accessibility campaigns, the limitations of today’s publishing world, and how others could get involved. I was impressed by their push towards discussing not just visible physical disabilities but also neurodivergence, mental health, and chronic illness. This discussion is drastically needed, as according to Creative Access only 5.4% of those who partake in a UK Publishers Association survey identify as disabled, and disabled people are drastically more likely to be unemployed than abled-bodied and neurotypical individuals. I did find that despite this talk being about a program devoted to making the publishing industry more accessible, Children’s Conference were faltering at providing for their disabled audience.  

Bookseller had made certain decisions that were helpful for those with disabilities, such as the virtual option. Heavily populated indoor events like conferences can be an optimal for spreading illness, so for those with compromised immune systems virtual talks can be a great option. Disabled people can also struggle with in-venue only events due to difficulties with travelling with mobility aids, cost of transportation and hotels, and potential physical strain made worse by travel and moving around the venue. Virtual events can be positive not just for those with physical limitations, but for people with sensory stimulation issues as long days in conference halls can be stressful for even neuro-typical people.  

Subtitles were included alongside the livestream, and though this could have been a positive I noticed that a lot of the time the subtitles were lagging behind the speakers and were often incorrect. Subtitles are a wonderful tool for those who are HOH (hard of hearing) or have an auditory processing disorder but when these tools are not properly utilised, they are not beneficial for anyone. There was also no sign language interpreter available for any of the speakers in-person or on the virtual stream, so HOH people who attended at the physical conference and the livestream are unable to gain vital information pertaining to their industry. 

For those attending virtually, chat option was not available. As someone with noticeable verbal communication issues, I can speak to the fact that the idea of speaking in an environment where a lot of attention can be placed upon you can be highly stressful, and so I was grateful for the idea of being able to message a moderator or chat to ask questions. This is why I felt an added sting to this opportunity not being available.  

 I am appreciative of the initial steps that Bookseller has taken but there are definite steps they could take to improve amongst future conferences. The Publishing industry has potential to lead in inclusivity, but it will take effort and listening to the disabled community.  

Bibliography-  

Image Credit to “Dana Chan for Disabled And Here.”

Chan, D. (no date) Dana Chan for Disabled And Here [Digital], png. Available at: https://affecttheverb.com/gallery/disabledandhere/videocall/ (Accessed: 6 October 2023). 

Quality and quantity: New conversations about disability representation (no date) The Bookseller. Available at: https://www.thebookseller.com/childrens-conference-programme/quality-and-quantity-new-conversations-about-disability-representation (Accessed: 6 October 2023). 

Toni (2020) Valuing disability in the publishing industry, Creative Access. Available at: https://creativeaccess.org.uk/latest/valuing-disability-in-the-publishing-industry#:~:text=In%20a%20recent%20survey%20by (Accessed: 7 October 2023).