The Hollywood Disabilities Forum, held on October 24 at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, served as a high-visibility reminder that people with disabilities are a significant part of our society – as much as 20 percent of the U.S. population by some estimates – yet people with disabilities remain "virtually invisible" in media portrayals on screen and stage.
"It's crucial for all of us – actors, writers, directors, producers, casting associates – to come together to examine these problems and create solutions," said Robert David Hall, master of ceremonies and national chair of the SAG Performers with Disabilities Committee. "I always think of the little kid that needs to see for him or herself, their own image reflected. To be marginalized, to be cut out of mainstream TV, movies and advertising stinks, and we're trying to change that."
The forum was sponsored by I AM PWD (Inclusion in the Arts and Media of Performers with Disabilities), a civil rights campaign by the Screen Actors Guild, AFTRA, Actors' Equity Association Tri-Union Performers with Disabilties Committee, the Writers with Disabilities Committee of the Writers Guild of America West and Alliance for the Inclusion in the Arts, with assistance from the California Arts Council, the National Arts and Disability Center at UCLA and the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. "The mission of the committee is to enhance the status and promote the advancement of actors with disabilities in an industry that, too often, denies access, stereotypes or disregards people with disabilities. This is why the themes of Access, Inclusion and Accuracy are so important and emphasized throughout the I AM PWD campaign," said Rebecca Yee, national director/senior counsel of SAG Affirmative Action & Diversity.
For the morning session, I AM PWD presented an Actors Master Class featuring actors with disabilities performing seven well-known five-minute scenes for critique and direction from Master Teachers Howard Deutch, Bill Duke and Paul Kampf. The Master Teachers were identified and chosen to participate due to their many successful and noteworthy years as a director, producer and actor. April Webster from April Webster & Associates auditioned and casted the following fifteen actors with disabilities to perform the following scenes:
Jesus Hopped the "A" Train by Stephen Adly Guirgis, featuring actors Malik B. El-Amin and Teal Sherer
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, featuring actors Stuart Nisbet and Diana Elizabeth Jordan
Election by Alexander Payne, featuring actors Eugene Feldman and Michelle Marks
Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet, featuring actors Danny Murphy and John Siciliano
The Graduate by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, featuring actors Christopher Imbrosciano and Kerry E. Walsh
A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard, featuring actors Allison Gray, Luce Rains and Kurt Yaeger
Light Sensitive by Jim Geoghan, featuring actors Steve Gladstone and Ann Colby Stocking
In the afternoon, Writer-producer Peter Farrelly served as the keynote speaker. He created, along with his brother Bobby, such hit films as Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary and The Ringer. In his remarks, Farrelly referenced the old riddle about a father and son who are in a car accident, taken to separate hospitals, and a doctor at the son's hospital says, "Oh my god, that's my son!" The riddle is: how can that be? For those familiar with the riddle, the doctor is, of course, the boy's mother. It's a classic example of how unconscious bias can creep in when we think of what a person can or cannot be in life. But times are changing, as Farrelly shared with the audience that he asked his 6-years old daughter the same riddle, and she responded, "because the doctor is the boy's mom." Farrelly suggested that we together must change this antiquated landscape for people with disabilities. "The perception that we are fighting here is the exact same thing," he said.
Later in panel discussion, Farrelly talked about the fine line he walks by featuring and casting performers with disabilities prominently in his irreverent comedies. He said persons with disability were a part of his world growing up, so it made sense to him to feature them. But he admitted that when the writing is edgy, it's sometimes harder to get the tone right, and occasionally people will get offended, despite the best intentions.
Actor Daryl "Chill" Mitchell and consulting producer Janis Hirsch talked about their new sitcom Brothers on Fox Television. On the new comedy, Mitchell plays a disabled restaurant owner who shares management responsibilities with his ex-pro football player brother.
Because the networks in general feature so few disabled persons in leading roles, Mitchell, Hirsch and the other panelists let the audience know the importance of writing letters to make sure inclusive shows like Brothers remain on the air.
Others who participated in the panel included moderator Allen Rucker, chair of the WGA West Writers with Disabilities Committee; Linda Bove, activist for the deaf community, best known as Linda the Librarian on Sesame Street; Vince Gilligan, series creator of Breaking Bad; David Milch, creator of Deadwood; Margaret Nagle, writer of the Emmy-winning HBO movie Warm Springs; Olivia Raynor, director of the Tarjan Center at UCLA, which focuses on promoting excellence in the disabled community; R.J. Mitte, star of Breaking Bad; and Danny Woodburn, best known for his role as Mickey on Seinfeld.
The keynote introduction was provided by actor Geri Jewell. I AM PWD and WGAW Writers with Disabilities Committee also made video presentations. The Office and Extras creative team Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant provided light-hearted remarks via video. And Kareem A. Dale, special assistant to President Obama on disability policy, gave words of support from the administration via phone.
The forum was a collaborative success with Screen Actors Guild staff, committee members and volunteers taking the lead in every way. SAG staff showing support or participating in key roles during the day included National Executive Director David White; Deputy National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland; Affirmative Action & Diversity staff members Rebecca Yee, Adam Moore and Yuisa Gimeno; and Communications Executive Director Pamela Greenwalt, along with Communications staff members Hope Barkan and Jimmy Simak.
Special thanks also go to David Lotz, communications director for Actors' Equity.
SAG provided updates throughout the day via Twitter.
Contact Info
Pamela Greenwalt
Communications Executive Director
Screen Actors Guild
(323) 549-6872
Contact via email
New thinking in the last century has radically changed political concepts that determine relations between the state and its citizens, and between society and its members. New rights are now being defined although the ground realities have yet to change.
Take the case of persons with disabilities. Until recently, providing them with care was perceived as charity. Today, they can legally claim respect for their dignity, inclusiveness in society, non-discrimination and equality of opportunity as a matter of right.
Disability is being redefined in a social rather than a physiological context. Sociologists and human rights activists now place the onus on society to make the necessary structural changes for enabling persons with disabilities to realise their full potential and make a contribution to the state.
This attempt to bring about a paradigm shift led to the adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008 — which Pakistan has also signed but has yet to ratify.
In view of the sociological research that has been done on the basis of the narratives and experiences of people with disabilities, the modern approach no longer focuses on the limitations of individuals or holds them to be the cause for the multiple constraints that are imposed on them. The social interpretation now is that people with disability are disabled not by their impairment but by economic, social and physical barriers erected to marginalise them.
With capitalism having a field day and ruthless consumerism dictating the system’s working, the disability movement has suffered a setback. Since the convention was opened to signature in 2007 only 143 states have signed it but only 70 ratifications have been received. Of the 87 signatories to the protocol only 45 have ratified it. The protocol gives the right to the citizens of a state to complain against their government to the committee established by the convention. The ethos of the Marxian principle of “from each according to his ability to each according to his need” has been dying and the wielders of power at every level marginalise people with disabilities even though they may be competent and skilled in their own fields.
It is remarkable how people with disabilities have taken it upon themselves to help themselves. With minimal assistance from the government, philanthropists have gone to unprecedented lengths to set up institutions to train and facilitate the mainstreaming of people with disabilities.
Take the Ida Rieu Welfare Organisation in Karachi for example. I revisited it last week after more than a decade. The occasion was a seminar arranged by their teachers’ resource centre. It was inspiring to see the development that has taken place there. In a country where institutions are breaking down it cheers the heart to find enterprising people who continue to build. In the year 2000 the Panjwani School Complex for the Blind started functioning with a school and college for children with visual disabilities, there being another school for children with hearing disability.
With a history of 86 years of dedicated service behind it, the institution is a memorial to honour Ida Rieu, the wife of a British civil servant who rose to be the commissioner of Sindh in 1919. Ida devoted her life to social welfare activities and in the process won the hearts of the people of Sindh. This institution terms its vision to be “turning disability into ability” by providing knowledge and training to the disabled to mainstream them in society.
With about 200 children in school and another 30 studying for their graduate and Master’s programme in college, Ida Rieu is producing excellent manpower and womanpower every year under the tutelage of 35 teachers, five of whom have visual disability. It is here that I met Shazia Hasan Rizvi who is the programme manager and also takes computer classes. Every student is trained to operate the computer with the JAWS (Job Accessed With Sound) programme.
Shazia lost her sight when she was eight but that did not deter her from studying. She graduated from Karachi University and also did a diploma course in computers. Now she is passing on her skills — and also her motivation — to others with visual disability. To facilitate the empowerment of persons with disabilities, Shazia arranges for the recording of audio books and organises workshops for teachers and parents.
When I asked her if society facilitates the mainstreaming of the youth who graduate from Ida Rieu, Shazia identified the barriers they face. The Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, refuses to allow candidates appearing for their school-leaving examination to use Braille. It insists on their hiring the services of an amanuensis to write out their script — quite a cumbersome process. Shazia suggests that candidates with visual disability be allowed to use a JAWS-fitted computer. Why not?
Another problem her students face is in job placement. Some organisations have a very practical and fair approach. If a person qualifies he is hired and is provided facilities to overcome the limitation created by his disability. But that is not the norm. In most cases employers reject applications from persons with disabilities without even testing/interviewing them.
This is social justice denied and Badri Raina, a retired teacher of English in Delhi University who writes extensively on culture, politics and society for ZMag, captures this injustice succinctly (excerpts quoted):
Having disabled the world,/ You turn around and call us/Disabled./You have eyes, hands, legs,/And all you do is kill and maim,/From antipode to antipode.
Your abled greed/Makes of the earth/A vengeful ball of catastrophe,/Promising apocalypse/Against all your leaps of science.
Disabled we may be/In eye, hand, leg, or feet,/Our able minds wish nothing
But well./We have no hand but write/With our toe;/We have no legs but run miles/Every day in what we make/With our hands;/We have no eyes but see far, far/Beyond your black-hearted blindness.
When we love./We love not for a fleeting hour,/But for ever./ And when we sing, our inward eye/Draws inexhaustible melody/From god’s own navel.
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