I am an experienced access consultant working within the film exhibition sector, advising cinemas, film festivals, and film organisations on access and inclusion for Deaf and Disabled audiences. I am partially sighted and deaf, and I bring this lived experience and insight to my expertise and work as a consultant. I practice access consultancy using a holistic framework and approach, with the understanding that access should be the default, not an afterthought. I strongly believe in cross-disability solidarity and intersectional accessibility.
I am an in-house access consultant at Matchbox Cine, an independent film exhibitor, distributor, and team of access practitioners specialising in film exhibition and distribution. We deliver professional subtitling, audio description, and access consultancy for clients. You can contact me at charlie@matchboxcine.com. for more information.
I provide workshops, disability awareness training, one-to-one advice sessions, short-term project consultancy, and long-term project consultancy.
I advise on a range of subjects, including venue accessibility, access provisions for online and in-person events, inclusive language, accessible social media, and outreach and engagement.
I provide knowledge and insight into disability representation and accessible screenings for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audiences, as well as blind and partially sighted audiences.
As part of Matchbox Cine’s access consultancy services, I am BFI FAN’s Champion for Film Hub Scotland, supporting the FAN membership on access for Deaf and disabled audiences. [British Film Institute’s Film Audience Network]
I designed an in-person course and an online course for Independent Cinema Office, titled ‘Accessibility Across The Board‘.
Matchbox Cine runs and led the development of Sidecard, a free online database designed to track and record the availability of access materials for films. Users can search and upload details of descriptive subtitles, audio description files and other materials related to cinema accessibility.
Among many others, I have worked with a wide range of clients, including the British Film Institute [BFI], British Independent Film Awards [BIFA], Conic Films, Cinema For All, Edinburgh Filmhouse, Film Hub Scotland, Independent Cinema Office, Sundance London Film Festival, Scottish Queer International Film Festival (SQIFF), National Science and Media Museum [Bradford], and Take One Action! Film Festivals.
Film & Disability 