Semey, 14-15 February, 2014 – Semey journalists got an opportunity to participate in a training, dedicated to correct usage of terminology, applicable to disabled people. The training was organized within “Empowerment now!” information campaign in both Russian and Kazakh languages. The focus of the training was on correct terminology while covering the topics, connected with disabled people.
31 people took part in the training. Among them were journalists of print and online media, students from Journalism department of Semey State University, representatives from the city’s union of blind and visually impaired, as well as members of social security department of Semey.
The social union “Istok” took an initiative to organize the event.
According to Lyudmila Mikhailova, the director of “Istok”, they developed a study guide, which will help journalists to cover the topics about people with special needs.
“We had a meeting with Semey journalists in January. We spoke about an input of local media into implementation of the campaign ‘Empowerment now!’ in our region. A lively discussion demonstrated the interest of mass media towards this issue. At the end of the meeting, we developed a plan of mutual work. Many of the people, who had attended the meeting, participated in our training,” said Miikhailova.
An interactive program of the training helped to achieve the initial goals. The participants studied the cases and articles to improve their professional skills. The heated discussion followed publications with insulting and humiliating features towards disabled people.
At the end of the training, the participants were awarded with certificates. Finally, the organizers announced a contest on the best publication covering the people with disabilities. The awarding ceremony with the announcement of the results will take place in May 2014.
