Mr. Jason Strother is a multimedia journalist and educator. As an independent reporter, Mr. Strother has filed stories from dozens of datelines for media outlets like NPR, the Wall Street Journal, and the BBC World Service. Much of his career was spent covering affairs on the Korean Peninsula and he sent dispatches from both sides of the DMZ. But in 2021, Mr. Strother returned to New Jersey to shift his reporting to stories that concern disability and accessibility, a beat that is often ignored or misunderstood in mainstream journalism. He then launched Lens15 Media, a news agency that focuses on the disability angle in every story. Mr. Strother’s work is informed by his own experience of having a low-vision impairment.
Mr. Strother is also an adjunct professor at Montclair State University, where he has created several electives in the School of Communication and Media. That includes a course on how people with disabilities are portrayed in the entertainment industry, journalism, and the social media. He has also been involved in cross-campus initiatives to make media and the arts more accessible. Mr. Strother holds an MA in international relations from the Brussels School of International Studies and a BA in broadcasting from Montclair State University. He has also earned a certificate degree in entrepreneurial journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. Mr. Strother has won grants from the National Geographic Society, the UC Berkeley School of Journalism, and the NJ Civic Information Consortium.
People with disabilities are disproportionately affected by climate change and disasters. Approximately 15 per cent of the world’s population has a physical, sensory or developmental impairment and as instances of severe weather phenomena increase, so do the risks posed to this already vulnerable community. In his Fulbright project, Mr. Strother is examining how emergency systems can be made more accessible to people with disabilities. During his sojourns in India, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, he has been searching for ways to bring down barriers that limit this population’s inclusion in responses to catastrophic events.