Controversy surrounding stage and film characters with disabilities is nothing new. Hollywood portrayals of people with disabilities all too often stand out as clichéd, symbolic, or token representations designed to entertain the masses. And how authentic can any of these portrayals even be when played by an actor or actress who doesn’t actually live with a disability?
Recently groups representing blind and deaf actors spoke out about the fact that talent from their communities were not cast in several roles. Oscar-nominated 13-year old Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) was chosen for the role of Helen Keller in this winter’s Broadway revival of The Miracle Worker. Sharon Jensen, executive director of the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, told the New York Times, “We do not think it’s okay for reputable producers to cast this lead role without seriously considering an actress from our [disability] community.”
Jensen acknowledged that it’s difficult for Broadway plays today to draw in audiences but said, “…that to me is not the issue. There are other, larger human and artistic issues at stake here.” On the Alliance’s website, Jensen further clarified her position on the subject, writing: “…it was our disappointment not with the selection, but the process in which the production selected Ms. Breslin, an actor of immense talent, that required that we speak. It would be our hope that the producers of work such as The Miracle Worker consider in their casting process actors from the communities we service, actors who could also bring significant breadth and depth to the role. That is our hope for the future of this project, this role, and other roles and projects in this same position—consider those in the community represented on-stage...”
The Miracle Worker producer David Richenthal claims that the production couldn’t find a blind or deaf child actor who could secure profits from a large enough audience to justify the show’s budget. The show will, however, make an effort—but not a commitment—to find a blind or deaf actress to play Breslin’s understudy.
Similarly, the popular new Fox series Glee, has been the target of criticism for choosing a non-disabled actor to play the role of Artie, a character who uses a wheelchair. “I think there’s a fear of litigation, that a person with disabilities might slow a production down, fear that viewers might be uncomfortable,” says actor and disability rights activist Robert David Hall. However, he argued, that simply isn’t true. “I’ve made my living as an actor for 30 years and I walk on two artificial legs,” he said.
Glee executive producer Brad Falchuk says the show was simply looking for the best performers possible. “We brought in anyone: white, black, Asian, in a wheelchair,” he explained. “It was very hard to find people who could really sing, really act, and have that charisma you need on TV.” Falchuk understands why the disability community is concerned, but he stands by the choice of Kevin McHale to play Artie: “It’s hard to say no to someone that talented.”
Whatever the case, it’s safe to say that roles for actors with disabilities aren't exactly wholesale. “…there is a smaller pool of jobs to go round,” says Mat Fraser, a British actor and comedian already familiar with stage, screen and radio. He’s also phocomelic—he was born with shortened arms after his mother was prescribed the drug Thalidomide while pregnant with him.
“But disabled actors are becoming mainstream,” Fraser says. “We are heading for a time when the disability won’t have anything to do with the plot. We will just be playing the role of lawyer, or gardener, or hero, or whatever. The fact that we have disabilities will be meaningless to the storyline.'”
Next month Fraser will star in a new six-part series called Cast Offs. The show is being hailed as television’s most politically incorrect entertainment program ever. It’s also being billed as offensive, disturbing, rude and very, very funny. It’s chock full of insults about disability and jokes about disabled sex and centers on the story of six characters with disabilities sent to a remote British island for a fictional reality TV show.
Cast Offs couldn’t be more timely in hitting British television, Fraser says. “Producers and casting directors are all too often unwilling to risk having too many disabled presenters or actors on screen. Yet surveys all indicate the public would welcome it,” Fraser says. “Around 40 percent in one poll said they would be happy to watch the news being presented by someone with a facial disfigurement or speech impairment, and that’s pretty radical. The truth is that cameras love the disabled but not disability.”
