Seek out the other stories. Hire other disabled people in front of and behind the camera — because you and whatever project you are working on will be better for having done so.
On December 8th 2021 Selma Blair accepted the Equity in Entertainment award at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment gala.
Blair was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in August of 2018, and has since become a vocal advocate for the rights of people with disabilities in the entertainment industry.
“By creating more inclusive content, by telling stories that more authentically represent and include all of us, by being allies in our workspace, by setting the bar higher for accessibility standards, by living and working in the intersectionality of our collective human experience, we become worthy of the enormous access and influence we have,” she told a packed audience at the Fairmont Century City hotel.
In the three years since publicly revealing her condition, Selma Blair has shifted her focus away from acting as she undergoes treatment for her MS. She returned to the screen this year as the subject of Introducing, Selma Blair, a raw and uncompromising film looking at the ways MS has changed her daily life as she undergoes a painful stem cell transplant.
However, sadly there are still very few people like Selma advocating for greater representation in the entertainment industry at a time when it is so desperately needed. Googling ‘disabled actors’ or ‘celebrities with disabilities’ awards very limited results.
Lauren Ridloff, who recently played the first deaf superhero Makkari in Eternals and George Robinson, who stars as Isaac in Sex Education, are two of an exciting new wave of talented young disabled actors speaking up about representation. But we need more.
1 out of 2 stories
A GLAAD study¹ found that, in 2020–2021, only 3.5% of series regulars on broadcast scripted series were characters with disabilities, despite the fact that people with disabilities make up at least 15% of the population. And even more worryingly “an estimated 95% of available roles are portrayed by talent without a disability,” according to Lauren Appelbaum, the Vice President of Communications and Entertainment & News Media at RespectAbility.
So to summarise, basically people with disabilities aren’t even getting cast to play people with disabilities…And even worse, plenty of non-disabled people in the industry still think this is okay. Succession ’s Brian Cox recently criticised the push towards authentic casting, arguing that it does a disservice to the “craft” of acting.
But representation is hugely important for three big reasons. Firstly, casting a non-disabled person in a disabled role implies that disabled people are not capable of the task, or indeed of any task. When writer/director Sia made excuses for casting Maddie Ziegler as the lead in Music instead of an autistic actor, Paige Layle, an autistic actor and influencer, said, “I think that the least [Sia] could do is show that autistics deserve to be in the workplace and can be in the workplace.” Casting disabled people is therefore about much more than authentic representation, it proves an important point that disabled people can achieve if they’re given the chance.
Secondly, there’s the message that this sends to young people with disabilities, that these stories and characters are not for them. Lauren Ridloff, who played the first deaf superhero in Eternals, cried tears of joy the first time she watched the movie because “I didn’t really see anyone like myself ever represented on the screen.”
It’s important that all young people are able to identify with the on-screen characters they aspire to be. It’s estimated that between 93 million and 150 million children live with a disability globally, but currently they don’t have too many options when it comes to role models. That’s why Ridloff’s casting has had such an impact on young people with disabilities – finally, it’s possible to dream of being a disabled superhero.
And finally, there’s the fact that when people with disabilities are cast in disabled roles, their portrayal of that character is just more authentic (sorry, not sorry Brian Cox!) As Keely-Cat Wells, founder of C Talent and Zetta Studios, put it in a recent Valuable 500 panel on representation “You can’t learn how to play disabled or be disabled – you just can’t. It’s not a technical skill, it’s a lived experience.”
Alaqua Cox, who plays Maya Lopez in Hawkeye, said, “The deaf community is in huge support of this role because they want to see deaf people represented in these deaf roles. … Most of the time, it’s hearing people that take these roles, but finally, authentic representation is here.”
And the disability community has gained some pretty influential allies in the industry too. In a video for the disability advocacy organization the Ruderman Family Foundation, Hollywood legend Octavia Spencer said, “Nothing can replace lived experience and authentic representation…That’s why it’s imperative that we cast the appropriate actor for the appropriate role, and that means people with disabilities as well.”
And we need allies, because ultimately this problem will not be solved by disabled people alone. Non-disabled actors, directors, writers and studios all have a key part to play in creating and casting more roles for disabled people.
That’s why Keely Cat-Wells organized an open letter² last year urging every major motion picture company to add disability officers to their leadership teams in order to “advance the seamless integration of the disabled community in all areas of an organization and make fundamental changes to dated practices based around the Social Model of Disability.”
It’s this kind of large-scale change that’s needed in order for people with disabilities to finally be meaningfully represented in the entertainment industry.
But let’s not forget that we also have a key part to play – the audience. After all, there’s nothing Hollywood values more than the box office, right?
Use your voice to call out productions that cast non-disabled actors in disabled roles, celebrate actors with disabilities and push studios and writers to include more disabled people in their storylines.
Because we need to ensure the industry listens to Selma Blair when she says “seek out the other stories. Hire disabled people in front of and behind the camera”. The project will always be better for having done so.
