Able Magazine – a publication for all disabled people

The challenge of writing to a disabled audience is very complicated – but at the same time, quite straightforward, as editor of Able Magazine, Tom Jamison, explains.

Disability is vast. It’s wider than a language and taller than a mountain. The breadth of disability is the biggest challenge regarding how we pull together an edition of Able Magazine. So, how do you write something meaningful for every individual reader within a community where some people will have a physical disability or sensory or intellectual (learning) disability, or a combination of disabilities? The common ground for all these incredible and unique readers is, of course, that disabled people are ‘people’; a point perhaps overlooked more often than it should be by even well-meaning others.

If Able Magazine was a mainstream lifestyle title, things might be easier for us, with the general formula being, an interview with a soapstar, a chocolate cake recipe, a diet plan and a picture of Harry and Megan. Instead, of course, we might have an interview with disability campaigner and presenter, Sophie Morgan, a recipe from our regular ‘cookfulness’ columnist, Ian Taverner, a feature on eating for energy and a picture story about Paralympic hopefuls, among other items. Able Magazine is a lifestyle magazine, with a disability twist!

Print and paper – and everything else – continues to rise in price. That means every page of Able Magazine must earn its place. We don’t want a situation where a reader turns over a page because they feel it isn’t for them.

We try to find other common elements within the disability experience. For instance, we might look at pain, sleep or fatigue, rather than something more specific, such as say, cystic fibrosis. This is because of two main reasons: first, if you don’t have cystic fibrosis, you’d be likely to turn the page without another thought. Second, even if you do have cystic fibrosis, as I do, is it likely that a one-off magazine article can tell someone like me much more than I already know, having lived with the condition for all these years? It would probably be a page wasted.

As we approach Naidex, I’m preparing to interview Paralympian, Ellie Simmonds and former England rugby star, Steve Thompson, who is living with symptoms of dementia, live on the Main Stage. Of course, I’m looking forward to both sessions but there’s preparation to do before I’m ready. Fortunately, 10 years of editing Able Magazine means that I’ve got at least a head start in understanding how disability can affect two people with radically different backgrounds.

Able Magazine truly is the publication for all disabled people.

Visit: www.ablemagazine.co.uk