COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Disabled filmmaker and journalist Ryan Wilson has announced the formation of Team Trust Productions, LLC, (www.teamtrustproductions.com). Team Trust has been created to help companies nationwide better understand the disability community and authentically represent the community in marketing communications.
“Growing up, I rarely saw people who looked like me in videos, on TV or any marketing,” Ryan, Team Trust Productions founder and CEO, said. “If I did see someone with a disability represented, they were always shown struggling in a hospital. It was discouraging. The disability community needs to see themselves authentically represented in media, and we need to show them for who they are as humans with unlimited potential.”
A 2022 Nielsen report found that 34 percent of persons with disabilities are “more likely to feel they’re not represented enough in the media,” and more than half claim they’re represented inaccurately.
The same report found that the disability community is 17 percent more likely to interact with a brand that features someone with a disability.
“Featuring persons with disabilities is not just beneficial for the disability community, it’s good business,” Ryan said. “Consumers, in general, are more loyal to and trusting of businesses that show diversity in their ads.”
The creation of Team Trust comes as businesses invest more in diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and are seeing an increasing demand from consumers to do so. Team Trust is working in several states to integrate disability into conversations around DEI, and eliminate any preconceived notions about disability.
“Companies are starting to realize the value in the disability community, but they are primarily including the disability community to check a box,” Ryan said. “While we do want our clients to check boxes, we also want them to go above and beyond the law to include my friends with disabilities.”
Ryan was previously a writer for the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee. He interviewed some of the greatest athletes with disabilities around the world, and the athletes opened Ryan’s eyes to his true potential as a human being with a disability.
Ryan was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, a rare brittle bone disease, and he has used a wheelchair his entire life.
One in four people in the United States have a disability, and the percent of persons with disabilities is rising. More kids are being born with disabilities, and more adults are acquiring disabilities. The COVID-19 pandemic also led to millions of people acquiring disabilities.
For more information on Team Trust, visit teamtrustproductions.com or follow Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Contacts
Ryan Wilson:
P: 217-494-4600
E: [email protected]
