We Want Our Close-Up Too!

"I appreciate that I do, but I just want to go out for the right parts and not waste anyone's time." –Teal Sherer from My Gimpy Life

       As some of you know, I have a degree in Theater and have recently become an aspiring screenwriter. So I thought, is there any way to connect what I want to do to live my blog? Then I remembered the above quote from a great show, "My Gimpy Life." Those of you who haven't heard of the show or checked out my Facebook page where I promote it constantly, let me give you a brief synopsis.

       In the show, Teal is a disabled actress, and the show chronicles her life activities over five episodes. While the show does talk a lot about her trying to audition for parts, it also mentions critical disability issues such as accessibility, the able-bodied community's perception of disabilities in general, and some awkward situations people with disabilities can be placed in. Right now, the show is in production for Season 2 after Teal's Kickstarter campaign raised more than 50,000 dollars in the hopes of producing more episodes after its successful Season 1, which was presented by Dracogen and Rolling Person Productions.

       The quote about Teal wanting to go out for the right part and my love for T.V. inspired me to do a bit of research, and what I have found is upsetting. Yet, it's not surprising. I have said before that perceptions of the disability community are not all self-inflicted. In fact, for the most part, society creates them. In today's society, one wonders what avenue has the most influence? If one thinks a little bit and does their research, they will find that the media has a great deal of impact on societal trends and perceptions. To go along with this point, there is one corner of the media market that has, in my opinion, the most significant impact.

       Celebrities and Hollywood are trendsetters in society whether they intend to be or not—people often emulate their fashions, beliefs, and sad behavior. I believe this is true when it comes to perceptions of the disabled community as well. I am not saying that Hollywood or the media created perceptions of the disabled but merely that they're reinforcing them. In an excellent article titled "Depictions of disability on T.V. still leave much to be desired," the author lays out how the media influences perceptions of the disabled.

       One startling quote from the article can summarize it all.

"When depicting disability, mainstream broadcasters give us the good, but they give us the bad and the ugly – and in the case of Bodyshock or Extraordinary People, do so while calling them exactly that. The modern-day freak show, these ratings hit mix deformity, disability, and obesity into a one-size-fits-all hatchet job of ignorance." Disability is a wide-ranging term and to lump us all together in a format that has so much influence is detrimental. What also is detrimental is something that often occurs in life. The author puts it like this, "Like a lot of people in life, it's when programmers think they're helping that they can cause the most havoc."  By this statement, the author refers to the fact that often shows presented under the pretense of explaining the world of disability often end up falling into two categories: give these people sympathy or be inspired by them.

While many disabled people have inspirational stories, I believe that it is not the community's desire as a whole to be seen just as an inspiration. As I've said previously, it's our desire to be seen as normal people but with visible obstacles that we must overcome.

       Along with this issue regarding television, there is a much more pressing issue that I think needs to be addressed. As I've said, I am into Theater, and any of my friends would tell you I like to be a ham and have quite the imagination. I have several sides to my personality and honestly would enjoy acting at some point. However, I realize that if I get into the movie and television business, the available roles are limited. This is why I focus my talents on other aspects of the company. It does not bother me personally that functions are limited for disabled people right now on basic and cable television. I do not expect society to immediately create watchable disabled characters if they do not rightfully understand disabilities. However, I do have a beef with the industry that I want to get into.  

       Recently, there has been a stream of disabled characters on T.V. Most notably perhaps is the character House played by Hugh Laurie, the character Artie in the show Glee, and Walter Jr. in the show Breaking Bad played R.J. Mitte. Sadly, only one out of the three listed here are disabled. R.J. Mitte has the same disability I do, just a milder form of it. That being said, I have a question for Hollywood. Why in the world would an industry as powerful as yours miss an opportunity when you have one? Hollywood often engages in what is known as "Crip face" or "Crip casting," where they employ a non-disabled person to play a disabled person. This practice is so common that my friend was even surprised when we found out that the disabled characters were not.

       I may be being a little harsh. I mean, yes, it is significant that society is being exposed to disabilities. Still, they are being exposed to disabilities most often in negative ways. Most of the characters with disabilities on T.V. are stereotyped. This may be a drastic comparison, but I believe that it is a valid one. When people dress in blackface, which is a white person dressing up as an African American, it is frowned upon. For example, many years ago, a fraternity was suspended from activities at my school because they had a black face party. Granted, the blackface's gentlemen were black, ironic, but the idea is still the same. Since Blackface is so frowned upon, why isn't Crip face similarly frowned upon by society and the disabled community?

       As I've said earlier, there are limited roles on T.V. right now for disabled people in this blog. Another article published a list of 10 roles in which actual disabled people played disabled people. Sadly, only one show of which I would consider mainstream. There were shows on networks such as ABC Family and networks like OWN, but these networks do not get as much attention from the public. The show that did have a disabled character, who was played by a person with a disability, was the aforementioned show "Breaking Bad," which is a beautiful series. As I also said earlier, I would love to act, but this chance is rarely possible. If Hollywood continues to unintentionally or intentionally eliminate a few parts that are perfect for disabled people, this will not only create a sad loss for Hollywood but a tragic loss for society in general.

       In closing, but I will use a quote from my friend's. "There is a brain drain in this country because society does not see the person with the disability, and instead, they see the person after they see the disability." Sorry, Karen, I changed it a little bit! Disabled people have a great story to tell, and we deserve the chance to say to it in one of the most potent places to tell a story, that being Hollywood and the media in general.

l.Footnotes

1.) http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/jul/01/born-to-be-different

2.) http://whereslulu.com/2011/05/01/ten-disabled-people-with-regular-tv-roles-right-now/

3.) mygimpylife.com