A Fayetteville native launched a streaming service increasing disabled representation
Through her work as a disability rights attorney, a Fayetteville native launched a streaming app to increase the visibility of the disabled community.
Jennifer Price, a Terry Sandford graduate, said that in her work as an attorney she noticed ways in which disabled people were overlooked.
"The one thing that really stuck with me was the media related in terms of them in the media," she said. "So I had always been interested in media in some way, shape or form and just saw that as a void that was missing and either the lack of representation or the lack of authentic representation of decided to pursue that."
Price, who also has a degree from Fayetteville State University, said she was on a video conference where she heard people with disabilities raise otherconcerns that she wanted to address. She remembers one conversation that stands out.
"The person mentioned the access to space and that access to space is always an issue for underrepresented communities," she said. "It can be a race issue, a gender issue and also an issue for people with disabilities because a lot of people in Hollywood or where else don't see (disabled people) as valuable as someone else."
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Price launched DiME, short for disability media, a streaming app available on Roku, Fire TV and Apple TV. DiMe first launched in June 2021 on Roku TV before expanding.
The television streaming app is updated on a monthly basis similar to other streaming services like Netflix or HBO Max. DiMe will have about four hours of new content each month. The streaming service has movies, webisodes and sports.
DiMe is also free to subscribe, which is something Price said she did on purpose.
"It's definitely intentional, number one because I personally am tired of all the streaming apps out, I didn't get rid of cable to have to pay à la carte," she said. "But I also recognize that there's a decent amount of the disability community that is either unemployed or underemployed. I didn't want costs to be a barrier for them to be able to see themselves on TV."
DiMe not only has media created by those with disabilities but also depicts stories about those who are disabled. Price is part of organizations, like East Suburban Citizen Advocacy, which has helped her connect with multiple different creators.
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Price said she remains motivated to increase visibility among the disabled community because of the appreciation she's received from viewers.
"People are just glad to see that stuff like this has been created and keep encouraging me to keep going," she said. "It's a grind building something from zero but I want to let people know that we're here and everything like that; they're just so glad to see it."
Staff writer Akira Kyles can be reached at akyles@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville native aims to increase the visibility of the disabled
