Angie and her sparring partners

It's a far cry from the days when disability was central to TV schedules, so the watch word for independent producer Angie Carmichael has had to be diversification

There were a lot of groundbreaking TV programmes to come out of the 80s, and one of them was Same Difference, a disability magazine series.

By today’s standards it would probably be thought quite tame but it was revolutionary at the time. I was an assistant producer on the programme, and it ran for five years. We covered anything and everything relating to disability.

Viewers would phone in and we’d answer their questions and give advice on air.

It was eventually pulled because Channel 4 wanted to get “more main­stream” and decided to move everything – disability, race issues, equality etc – into one entire strand.

Around the time of Same Difference I worked for a couple of independent production companies in Bristol and went on making documentaries for Channel 4 and BBC, although these tended to be one-offs rather than series.

I found myself becoming more and more involved in the disability movement. As a disabled person and a personal carer, I was really driven to campaign for a movement that lobbied for anti-discrimination legislation and the right to independent living for those with disabilities.

At some point I realised there needed to be a forum for disabled people, a place for information and for encouraging self-advocacy, so I set up a production company called Sparring Partners which is now diversifying into disability consultancy. And that’s what I continue to do now.

I work for myself as an independent consultant, I set up Wiltshire People First which is an advocacy organisation run by and for people with learning difficulties and I’m an independent consultant to I’m a Person Too, a national training programme delivered primarily to the public sector, aiming to improve communication channels between the public sector and those with learning difficulties.

I think there is a lot of misunderstanding about learning disability and how services should communicate with people with learning difficulties. There are some pretty obvious ways, like making everything “easy read”, using pictures and symbols and using large text, but I think it’s mainly the difficulty that people have trying to use mainstream services in the first place. The aims that I’m a Person Too focuses on are about inclusion and, of course, putting people first. It’s not about creating separate services for people with learning difficulties like some local authorities have done, but creating services in innovative ways that everyone can access.

• Angie Carmichael was talking to Annie Makoff

Angie Carmichael: career path

1995: Broadcast TV work including assistant producer on Channel 4's Same Difference
1995: Set up Sparring Partners, making films for charities and voluntary sector
1996: Set up Wiltshire People First
2001: Coordinated a Best Value review of Direct Payments and Support Services
2006: Lay reviewer and referee for the Department of Health Social Care Work­force Research Initiative
2008: Co-trainer at I'm a Person Too