i need help on deciding what to do about photographer, touchy subject disabled photographer

This is a hard one! Honestly, if you do fire her than I fully expect her to blame it on her disability, that just seems to be how things today, even though the issue is her punctuality and her communication. Before you have to cut ties, I would suggest maybe calling her or making an appointment and expressing your concerns to her. Tell her how much you love her work and how excited you are to have her as a vendor, but you really value communication as a tool, and you need to know she is on board. I understand maybe a week between emails, but no more than that. She is a professional, she has to understand where you're coming from. Telling her how much wedding planning is taking out of you (even if you exaggerate a bit) wouldn't hurt either, just to hit the point home about how the lack of communication is stressful to you. Best of luck!

Her disability has absolutely nothing to do with her doing her job as a professional. She is a photographer who happens to have a disability, not a disabled person who happens to be a photographer. Just as it was wrong of you to meet with her because you "figured too many people wouldn't give her the chance," it's wrong to assume that she will think you're breaking your contract because of her disability. If she has communication issues, I'm sure this isn't the first time she's had a similar conflict. Simply say "I'm sorry, we don't feel comfortable moving forward with your services because it has been difficult to get responses from you." Everything doesn't have to revolve around her disability.

I'm not sure what you mean by messaging. Some people prefer/respond better to different communication modalities over others. Have you tried calling?

Have you tried a different means of communication? Are you talking about your messages on wedding wire? Can you email or call her?

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She doesn't speak very well, so we email and use wedding wire messaging

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She doesn't speak very well so we use email and or message through ww

View Quoted Comment I see. Well I think you'll have to tell her that you're concerned with her promptness in regards to arrival to appointments and communication. See what she says. If she doesn't acknowledge that there is an issue, then you have your answer on how to proceed!

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I previously worked in the medical field for over 10 years and have two disabled family members and based on experience I know people will see the disability and not even try to look at the work or talents of that person to even give them a shot. So yes, I wanted to hire her to show people to look past the disability and see what that person can do. lots of people can't or won't see past that and that's unfortunate. Any time that I can hire or help someone less fortunate I will as long as their work is good. That opens the door for other people to hire them who wouldn't have otherwise

Just be honest , she was late , she doesn’t respond in a timely fashion and that’s now how you’d like things to work between you and your vendors . Your hired HER she is working for YOU. You don’t owe her anything .

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You're right. Thanks!!

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You're absolutely right! Thanks

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Thanks!!!!!

View Quoted Comment Exactly this. Focusing on her disability is entirely irrelevant and really rude.

My photographer and I text- maybe try this instead? Some people don't get on WW or check emails daily. Phones are a part of everyday living so it might be an easier form of communication.

I'd try a different form of communication first.
Honestly, your wedding is months away, and she probably has clients who need things before you.

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There is no other form of communication. She is disabled so what I have been doing is what works for her. And it doesn't matter if she has other clients and my wedding is months away, Almost a month without responding is unprofessional and unacceptable.

View Quoted Comment I'm just shocked that in this day and age there isnt more than 1 way to get ahold of her.

I guess I just question why you would need to contact your photographer so often 7 months in advance. I've emailed mine 3 times to inquire about pricing, tell her we chose her, and schedule engagement photos, and expect to email her only once more before the wedding.

It sounds like your mind is made up to get rid of her. So I guess you gotta do what you wanna do.

I wouldn’t be worried about her trying to flip things and say you’re firing her because she is disabled. If you have all of the messages saved with time and date stamps, it will be very clear why you are firing her. She is unprofessional. I would not keep a vendor that did not respond to my messages regardless of their physical abilities.

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What do you mean by why do I have the need to contact her so often??? How do you know how many times I have contacted her???? And even if I have contacted her 50 times and even if my wedding was 36 months away that would be my business and my right as I am paying for a service. Especially since I have already given a deposit. And if you read the comments I said that she is disabled and does not speak very well and wedding wire and email is her preferred choice of communication, so you should not be shocked as to why there isn't more than one way of getting in contact with her. Would you suggest I mail her a letter or go knock on her door??? I asked for suggestions on how to deal with the situation, not for you to count how many times that I have contacted my photographer.

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Thanks Meghan