From The Associated Press. In
this combination photo, Marlee Matlin, from left, arrives at the 38th Annual
Daytime Emmy Awards on June 19th, 2011 in Las Vegas, Millicent Simmonds arrives
at the 24th annual Critics' Choice Awards on Jan. 13, 2019, in Santa Monica,
Calif., Danny Woodburn attends the premiere of "Dead Ant" on Oct. 10,
2017, in Los Angeles and Maysoon Zayid attends the Women's Media Awards on Oct.
22, 2019, in New York. Matlin, Simmonds, Woodburn and Zayid are just a few of
the Hollywood insiders who participated in a series of virtual panels Monday,
Oct. 26, 2020, examining the state of disability representation in Hollywood.
The series is hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in
celebration of the 30th anniversary year of the Americans with Disabilities
Act.
It’s an old
cliche that if an actor wants to win an Oscar, he or she should consider
playing a character with a disability. And it’s not entirely unfounded advice:
61 actors have been nominated for playing a character with a disability and 27
have walked away winners. But only two of those actors actually had a
disability — Marlee Matlin in “Children of a Lesser God” and Harold Russell in
“The Best Years of Our Lives.”
That’s just
one of the things that needs to change, according to a group of entertainment
industry professionals with disabilities including actors Danny Woodburn, “A
Quiet Place’s” Millicent Simmonds and “Peanut Butter Falcon’s” Zack Gottsagen.
They and other creatives with disabilities, from directors to VFX artists,
spoke about the state of representation in front of and behind the camera in
series of virtual panels organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences that debuted Monday night. The panels, funded in part by a grant from
the Ruderman Family Foundation, coincides with the 30th anniversary year of the
Americans with Disabilities Act.
“It would be
really helpful to have a disabled (Disney) princess,” said actor and comedian
Maysoon Zayid, who has cerebral palsy.
Zayid noted
that people with visible and invisible disabilities make up about 20% of the
American population but a miniscule number of characters on television and in
film.
“The message
being sent out to disabled kids is you do not belong in this world,” Zayid
said. “People with disabilities face enormous amounts of bullying, violence and
discrimination. Positive images of disability can stop that.”
Part of that
is casting actors with disabilities to play characters with disabilities.
Simmonds, who is deaf, said she’s had to go up against non-disabled actors for
disabled roles. She recalled that her “A Quiet Place” director John Krasinski
had to fight to cast a deaf actor and that producers wanted someone who was
hearing.
“Deaf roles
should be played by deaf actors,” she said through an interpreter.
At times
she’s even taken it a step forward to advocate for herself.
“I’m not
above calling directors or producers and suggesting that they have a deaf
actress for a particular role,” she said.
But another
part of the equation is giving actors rich and nuanced storylines that go
beyond the three they usually get: “‘You can’t love me because I’m disabled,’
‘heal me’ or ‘kill me,’” said Zayid.
Woodburn,
who has dwarfism, remembers watching actors like Michael Dunn when he was young
and seeing only stereotypes and tropes like the “sad little man” or the
“devious little man” and storylines that were the same.
There is
also the issue of working and how productions can be more accommodating to
people with disabilities both on screen and behind the scenes. Many noted that
they don’t want to ask for special accommodations.
Zayid
remembered being unable to get into her trailer on the set of “You Don’t Mess
with the Zohan” and basically had to ask a production assistant to help hoist
her up.
“Adam
Sandler saw and said, ‘What is happening? Make her trailer accessible!” I said
I didn’t want to be high maintenance,” she said. “He said ‘look around, we’re
in Hollywood.’”
Jim
LeBrecht, who directed the Netflix documentary “Crip Camp,” said it could help
if the industry re-thought its own barriers to entry, like starting as a
production assistant who has to carry 14 cups of coffee and work 20 hour days
to get a foot in the door.
“Instead of
asking what you won’t be able to do, ask is there anything I can do to help you
do the best work you can,” LeBrecht said. “None of us got to your door by being
oversensitive and mad at everybody...we are comfortable with our disability.”
VFX
supervisor Kaitlyn Yang said that people with disabilities can be particularly
effective in post-production roles. She’s also found a silver-lining in the
video conferencing realities of COVID-era filmmaking: She doesn’t have to
wonder now if she should address her wheelchair.
“Video
conferencing is taking away the uncomfortableness that people might have if I
were to take a meeting and roll into the conference room,” Yang said. “It puts
us on an equal playing field.”
Talent
manager Eryn Brown hopes that disability representation reach the same level of
discussion as LGBTQ and racial and ethnic diversity. She said the ingrained
stigma around it has even made her reticent to discuss it with her clients.
“A raised
awareness in this moment of cultural reckoning is imperative,” Brown said.
“Anyone at any moment can become disabled so it’s in everyone’s best interests
in the world to be accommodating.”
The film
academy, which puts on the Oscars, has been working to increase diversity in
its own ranks and in the industry and recently
set inclusion standards for best picture nominees.
“As the Academy continues to examine longstanding issues of representation within the film industry, it’s imperative we bring conversations about disabilities to the forefront,” said Christine Simmons, who heads the Academy’s office of representation, inclusion and equity.
