Feedback: In Touch's 50th anniversary
Radio 4's In Touch programme, which presents "news, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted", celebrates its 50th anniversary on the 7th October with a special one-hour programme.
Peter White, the presenter of In Touch and the BBC's disability affairs correspondent
It is presented of course by the peerless Peter White, but is there still a need for such programmes or do they run the danger of ghettoising the disabled?
That is one of the issues we discussed in this week's Feedback and to be honest I felt a little bit uncomfortable during the discussion.
Opposite me was Peter who, although blind, thinks nothing of travelling alone on the London tube, and Liz Carr, who presents the BBC's Ouch! podcast and who is a wheelchair user.
You can't help but admire them, but as they made clear, politely but firmly, they did not want to be admired or praised, or routinely referred to as disabled.
That was just one part of their lives and not necessarily the most important.
A listener, Tracy Proudlock , said she was fed up with only hearing disabled people on "stuff like health and right to die debates rather than on business for example".
Also joining the discussion was Radio 4's network manager Denis Nowlan, who is the "diversity champion" for BBC radio.
The Corporation has what it calls "Diversity Targets" for those it employs, in the case of disabled people that is 5.5% of the workforce by the end of 2012. It has some way to go.
Mind you, given that around one in five of the population is said to have some sort of disability, it doesn't seem to be an unreasonable target.
Liz Carr conducted a whistle-stop tour of Radios 1, 2, 4 and 5 to find out how each of them was reflecting the lives of their disabled listeners. Some better than others it seems.
She then joined us in the discussion. I hope you enjoy it. (Ed's note: You can hear it online) I certainly learned a lot, including the fact that the BBC has no intention of cancelling In Touch, so it will be a happy birthday.
By the way the special In Touch programme will be broadcast on Friday 7 October at 12 noon on Radio 4.
Roger Bolton presents Feedback
- Go to the In Touch website
- Sign up for the In Touch newsletter
- Download the In Touch podcast
- Listen again to this week's Feedback, produced by Karen Pirie, get in touch with the programme, find out how to join the listener panel or subscribe to the podcast on the Feedback web page.
- Read all of Roger's Feedback blog posts.
- Feedback is on Twitter. Follow @BBCR4Feedback.
Comment number 1.
At 23:11 1st Oct 2011, newlach wrote:I find it peculiar that the Network Manager of Radio 4 is now also the "diversity champion" for BBC Radio. How is he qualified to do this very important job? I have heard him talking about problems with the radio pips and various mess-ups on Radio 4, but nothing I have heard from the man would indicate that he would know how to contribute to an increase in the total number of disabled staff working for the BBC from 3.7 per cent to 5.5 per cent by 2012 (an actual increase of around 48 per cent).
Is this a case of the BBC trying to do something very important on the cheap? I would like to hear Peter White interview him on the matter.
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