Netflix partners with RespectAbility

Streaming giant Netflix, have recently announced their partnership with RespectAbility, a diverse, disability-led non-profit that works to create systemic change in how society views and values people with disability.

This new venture aims to provide education and training to disabled writers, animators, and various creatives looking to focus of kids movies and content. Netflix and RespectAbility will establish a five-week program, the Children’s Content Lab for Disabled TV Creators.

The RespectAbility Entertainment Lab, an ongoing programme that has seen graduates land jobs at companies including DreamWorks Animation, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, and The Walt Disney Company, is the inspiration for the new Children’s Content Lab.

“We founded the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab in 2019 to show the industry that there are disabled writers, directors and crew available if you take the time to look for us,” said Lauren Appelbaum, Senior Vice President at RespectAbility and founder of the lab. “The Children’s Content Lab is a natural offshoot of this. Over the past five years, we’ve worked with more than 40 series in the preschool and children’s space, as well as a variety of kids and family films, placing disabled creatives in dozens of productions. We see a clear need to provide additional bridges between disabled creatives and those who create kids and family content.”

Netflix’s Fund for Creative Equity, which aims to improve opportunities for underrepresented groups in entertainment, will provide the funding for the Children’s Content Lab.