CMU School of Drama


Thursday, August 09, 2018

Column: Hollywood Needs to Open Up More to People With Disabilities

Variety: In five years, nothing has changed.

Despite open calls for greater diversity and inclusion, recent research shows that there was little change in the number of characters with disabilities in popular films in 2017.

1 comment:

Marisa Rinchiuso said...

There are so many groups of individuals who are not well represented in the entertainment industry that this article does not come as a surprise. As an artist with limited mobility myself, I do wish I could see more representation on screens. This summer I had the great opportunity to meet and talk extensively with a young playwright at Williamstown who also has a physical disability. Getting to talk about our experiences was truly eye-opening. She poured much of her experiences into her writing, but a huge thing we discussed was that when disabled people are represented on the screen, it is usually the focus point of a sad, dark plot. For many people with disabilities, the sad parts are just a small portion of our lives. I would want to see people on the screen who are multi-facets and funny and lively and awkward just like the rest of us, with disability not as the focus. This article did bring up a good point though which is as much as disabilities need a role on the screen, they also need one off screen.