By: Julia Laquerre
Visual storytelling is “everything I would want to do as a media advocate” stated Michelle Faulkner, the chief content officer of the Disability Justice Project. In an interview with Julia Laquerre, Faulkner discussed her opinion on the benefits of visual storytelling within the context of social justice.
She was interviewed for her work as a media
advocate for the Disability Justice Project (DJP). As a media advocate, Faulkner uses many different types of media to spread awareness about social discrimination. As the DJP’s content officer, she uses videos from the fellows, and the organizations the DJP assists, to spread awareness of the stories of people living in the Global South with disabilities.
Faulkner told her journey of incorporating advocacy with journalism. Early in her career as a media advocate, she was unsure how to integrate the two, while remaining objective.
The solution was visual storytelling. Storytelling creates a unique opportunity for marginalized voices to directly share their stories, without the bias of a journalist sharing their stories for them. Digital storytelling was the perfect medium for Faulkner to base her career.
The DJP is based in Boston, its goal is to spread awareness for people living in the Global South with disabilities. The Global South consists of Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania. People in these regions often do not have access to digital media. Without access to media, the organizations in the Global South are unable to spread awareness on a global scale. The DJP gives their fellows camera equipment, with which they share their experiences as a person with disabilities living in the Global South for the DJP to distribute.
Faulkner is from Sierra Leone and came to Boston to attend college at Northeastern University.
Faulkner received her bachelor’s degree from Northeastern in the Spring of 2020. Her major was arts in journalism with a minor in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. During her time as an undergraduate, she worked for the Social Innovation Forum, a non-profit organization that helps connect other non-profits with investors.
She earned her master’s degree at Northeastern University in science in media advocacy in 2021. During her time as a graduate student, she worked as an events assistant at the John D. O'Bryant African American Institute . Originally, Faulkner worked for the DJP through Northeastern’s School of Journalism as a communications/technical associate. Shortly after receiving her master’s degree, Faulkner was invited to work at the DJP by her professor, Jody Santos, who serves as the founding executive director of the DJP. Over her time at the DJP, she was promoted to chief content officer and was employed full-time. Faulkner is dedicated to working as a media advocate.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
QUESTION: Why are you a media advocate?
MICHELLE FAULKNER: I have always been passionate about social change and advocating for marginalized communities throughout the world. I have always enjoyed storytelling. I learned that advocacy and storytelling can work together, it doesn’t have to be one or the other. What I understood before this realization, was that advocacy and storytelling could not be the same without being biased in terms of the traditional definition of objectivity.
DJP goes against the traditional understanding of what journalism can do and what it is. There is a way to still use storytelling and adhere to the ethical standards of journalism that don’t taint the story. DJP changes the traditional narrative because it proves that you can be of a community and report on issues or stories from that community without being biased.
Historically, there are examples of what can go immensely wrong when an outsider reports on a specific community because they will not fully understand them or the issues. There are serious negative impacts that come from that type of reporting.
QUESTION: Why do you think storytelling is essential for systemic change?
FAULKNER: I’m definitely not the first person to say this, and it’s definitely something I have learned.
Storytelling is just so fundamental to the human experience. It’s how we relate to one another; it’s how we share information to become smarter and more knowledgeable. In terms of advocacy and raising awareness on certain issues, storytelling allows people to better understand one another. Storytelling is essential [because] it is so accessible through the different types of media. It is so important and it continues to be especially within the context of the DJP, by giving the fellows media equipment and workshops to help them learn how to share their stories through media.
QUESTION: How does digital storytelling/ journalism through media change the narrative of written journalism?
FAULKNER: Media and digital storytelling are so accessible, which makes it so impactful because it can teach different people. Media can be disseminated throughout the world so quickly because of social media. Storytelling can be even more impactful because it reaches so many more people through global sharing of information. Media is diverse in its forms, which helps in terms of dissemination as well as accessibility.
QUESTION: Why have you decided to work for the Disability Justice Project?
FAULKNER: Working with the DJP is a dream for me. It’s literally everything I would want to do as a media advocate, which is very exciting.
I took a documentary class with Jody Santos [a journalism and media advocacy professor at Northeastern University and the founding executive director at DJP] in the spring of 2021. She spoke with me about the Disability Justice Project and getting it going and it was all so exciting. She asked if I could join her team and I was more than thrilled to join.
QUESTION: What does the Disability Justice Project mean to you?
FAULKNER: It means using and sharing knowledge about journalism. Of course, centered on the voices of people with disabilities, but in the larger scheme really contributes to the global disability rights movement. It means advocacy, journalism, letting people tell their own stories, and disability rights justice. How journalism, advocacy, and storytelling all interact for the ultimate good, for a better world for people with disabilities. The fellows and contributors send different media forms to the DJP, which is what I believe to be one of the best ways to share stories.
QUESTION: How do you hope to educate your audience through digital storytelling and media?
FAULKNER: The DJP is a global media network, so the audience is worldwide. Particularly, our focus is within the Global South with our fellows and the people in their communities. For example, we had a fellow that works for an organization that raises awareness about deaf-blindness. We were able to teach this organization how to use storytelling and media to share their story.
Digital storytelling is really great for the fellows, their organizations, and their communities. There is a trickling-down effect that creates change in the long term. We are raising awareness through local organizations in the Global South as well as the general worldwide public and policymakers that can help institute structural change that will make smaller communities and the world more inclusive for people with disabilities.
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