Former CNN foreign correspondent Saima Mohsin has said she “lost the support of the very place I thought would have my back” after she was injured while on assignment for the broadcaster.
Mohsin, whose contract with CNN was terminated three years after the accident, said disabled people are “not our disability” and that they have “many, many characteristics and talents and skills to offer” the news industry.
Mohsin now works as a presenter for Sky News and delivered the keynote at the Disability Journalism Forum put on by Sky and News UK in London last week where she spoke about her experience of becoming disabled and advised the industry on how it should work with disabled staff.
‘We risk our lives in the field thinking that the company is there for us’
Mohsin said that as an international correspondent she had “reported from 28 countries on some of the world’s biggest stories, flying across Asia and Europe at the drop of a hat. I was flying high. I could hardly believe I was living my dream”.
In 2014, however, she was injured in Jerusalem while covering that year’s Gaza War when her camera operator drove over her foot “in a two-tonne jeep”.
“So began years of pain and being gaslit by the medical community – I’m sure many of you have been there,” she said. “Fear of losing my job and a lot of physical and psychological distress…
“I pieced together a a diagnosis with multiple specialists myself. Damaged tendons and ligaments and nerve damage in my foot impacted my whole left side. It was like I had been cut down the middle and my entire left side felt different sensations all at the same time – pain, nerves, etcetera, right up and including my face.
“There was a cycle of being at work and off work, and that continued. I began to gently approach the subject of adjustments at work and was met with verbal positivity – ‘Sure, we can do that. You don’t have to work 18 hours a day. You don’t have to stand for the live shots.’
“But there was a practical non-compliance. Eventually, when I asked not to travel, but to focus on rehab and to report from the newsroom instead, I was fired.”
Mohsin said she had “a breakdown”.
“I had gone from flying across Europe and Asia, reporting on the major global news in 28 countries, to barely being able to sit, stand or walk for 28 minutes.
“Worse, I had lost the support of the very place I thought would have my back. We risk our lives in the field thinking the company is there for us. Suddenly, my belief in my journalistic skills and talent being recognised didn’t mean anything because a disability overruled that.
“One night, unable to move – numb in parts, buzzing in parts, extreme pain in parts, and I have not said this publicly before, incontinent – I felt I had lost everything. Everything.
“I lost my job, my independence, but worse, my health was deteriorating. I couldn’t even walk to physio. I couldn’t even make it to the bathroom. I had some very, very dark moments. What was my purpose in life? What was the point of me?
“I was so ashamed of that thought. I realised the non-disabled world had taught me this narrative – the shocking treatment I experienced in the workplace had taught me that too. I started to learn I was still me. Just a different version – that’s all.”
Mohsin said that with her disability she “saw the world very differently”.
“I also made my decision to fight for injured and disabled journalists rights in the workplace, starting with my own rights. Many of you will know about my case for disability and race discrimination – ongoing for almost seven years now. It is a matter of principle. I felt a burden of responsibility to do this not just for me, but for all of us.”
Mohsin alleges she was wrongfully dismissed from CNN and is attempting to face the company at an employment tribunal, although CNN has fought the bid by claiming it is not under the jurisdiction of a UK tribunal. A preliminary hearing in 2023 dismissed this argument, although CNN has since appealed that decision. CNN declined to comment for this article.
[Read more: Injured foreign correspondent’s case against CNN will be heard at tribunal]
Saima Mohsin: Stories about casualty incidents should reflect those injured, not just those killed
Mohsin called for journalism that goes “beyond headlines and statistics”, saying “unless we do, in our reporting and representation, we are alienating both communities: the disabled will not feel accurately seen or heard, and the non-disabled will remain immovable in their prejudice and lack of understanding”.
The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that 24% of people in the UK have a disability.
Mohsin gave several specific examples of how disability and disabled people could be better reflected and supported in journalism.
Before she became disabled, Mohsin said that when she reported on casualties in an emergency incident “I didn’t spend time to consider the injured people. They were one homogeneous group. It was just a number clumped together. They were injured, right?
“But those are the people who sustained life-long traumatic injury, psychological trauma, physical scars and also physical disabilities. How often do we stop to consider that in our journalism?”
Following the Iraq War, she added, there had been “a focus on journalists’ deaths. Newsrooms got together to implement better safety procedures and insurance to prevent journalists being killed in the field.
“What about those of us who are injured? There have been many high-profile incidents of injury, some quite rightly taken care of by their companies – others like me, not so much.
“And what about freelancers? How transparent is the procedure for injured journalists, the health insurance, the duty of care? What about journalists who develop a disability, not through an injury, but through a change in their health and circumstances? How much does our industry take care of them? What kind of reasonable adjustments are offered?”
Mohsin also called for better awareness of reasonable adjustment rights among non-disabled people in newsrooms, noting that she had not been familiar until she became disabled. “Because they are the majority who should be implementing, supporting and advocating for them. That is real allyship.”
She said that disabled journalists have “so much to offer” newsrooms.
“We are not our disability. We have many, many characteristics and talents and skills to offer and the industry that best reflects an audience is the media and journalism. So we have a vital, essential role to play here.”
She cautioned, however, against depicting disabled people as “superhuman”, as has previously occurred around the Paralympics. “We can’t all be superhuman – that’s an unfair burden, it’s like being the good immigrant. You have to prove yourself to be extra special because you have a disability. No – we are extra special, and unique, as individuals.”
And she added that while on-screen representation of disabled journalists and greater reporting on disabilities were necessary, they alone would not be enough to create social change.
“What about the editorial decision-makers? The planners, the producers, the management teams? Real change will only come when we see diversity at every level…
“Newsrooms might want to claim success by being visually representative, but not until all people of all identities are included making the decisions will things change.
“We must continue to advocate. We all know that change can’t come from within institutions and structures alone, it comes from people like us – who persist, who continue to demand accountability, who call out bad practice, and saying when our bosses and companies get it right.”
‘We need full, meaningful access to jobs, spaces and decision-making power’
Signing off the event Dr Shani Dhanda, a disability rights activist and event organiser, said disability “is misrepresented and, sadly, often erased in media.
“But this isn’t just a disability issue, it’s a human issue, and we need real change. What this means is that disabled people must lead in media and not just be subjects of stories – if we are lucky.
“We don’t only want to see disabled people talking about disability – how bloody boring is that? In the words of [actor and presenter] Adam Pearson, it’s the most mundane thing about us. We need full, meaningful access to jobs, spaces and decision-making power.
“If our stories do not reflect the diverse lived experiences of the disability community, we are failing, and there is probably a big group of people who, if I’m being honest, are not doing their jobs properly…
“Whether you’re a journalist, an editor, an ally, I want you to take this urgency forward. You have heard today how disabled people feel we have to overcompensate, how we are judged on our abilities, our appearance, how hard we have worked – how hard many of us have worked, even for free, to get an opportunity.
“So I want you to really commit to doing something. Start somewhere – anywhere. The more you do it, the easier it becomes, trust me. I have worked with so many businesses to help them. But let’s not stop until all disabled people are in all levels of this industry.”
[Read more: Barriers still exist for disabled people in journalism]
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