Saturday, March 15, 2014
Able-Bodied Actors and Disability Drag: Why Disabled Roles are Only for Disabled Performers
Balder and Dash | Roger Ebert: Able-bodied actors should not play disabled characters. That they so often do should be a scandal. But it is not a scandal because we do not grant people with disabilities the same right to self-representation onscreen that we demand for members of other groups who struggle for social equality.
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I hadn't really thought about how the casting for disabled roles might affect that community. I find that you read a fair amount of articles about those in that community who are being cast in proment shows like Breaking Bad, but you never hear about how rarely that happens. At first, I thought that the author was completely right. There are definitely character like Artie on Glee, who could absolutely be played by actors with the same disability, but after reading some of the comments, I started thinking about some of the more unique disabilities that are featured on television and the fact that some disabilities present in different way. One of the commenter pointed out that in that case,having a person with one disability play a character with another would be just as offensive. It all definitely interesting to think about.
I suppose that the analogies the article draws are accurate. The parallels between white actors playing non-white roles and able-bodied actors playing disabled roles is a clear one. That being said, I wonder if we as a society should be able to move past concerns such as this? In a vein similar to colorblind casting, can we not also be blind to able-bodied actors playing disabled roles? In 2014, if a black actor can be cast for a white person's role, then why can't a able-bodied actor play a disabled role?
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