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Mark | 20:19 UK time, Sunday, 9 September 2007

I was chatting with a deaf colleague the other day about the portrayals of deaf characters in television and film. He mentioned shows like Jericho and Weeds, both of which feature deaf actress . I asked him if he had seen Babel, a film with a prominent storyline about a deaf Japanese girl that received substantial critical acclaim last year. My friend's reaction was unequivocal. To paraphrase him, "The deaf community will not watch movies that feature hearing people portray deaf characters. Plenty of deaf people auditioned for that role, but the director chose a hearing person. I have no interest in seeing that movie."

For years, people with disabilities have complained about Hollywood's cluelessness in its portrayal of people with disabilities. Besides showing a penchant for exploiting characters with disabilities for easy moments of sentimentality, the entertainment industry has shown little interest in using actors with disabilities. Every time you see a TV show or movie featuring someone who is blind, deaf, a wheelchair user, autistic, or [insert disability here], odds are better than even that the actor in that role is faking the impairment. And while an actor's job is to play make-believe, there's an argument to be made for authenticity. We no longer consider it acceptable for white entertainers to appear in blackface. This is not the Elizabethan era, when men performed female roles on stage. But it's still okay to use able-bodied actors to portray people with disabilities, and in doing so, a particular message is sent. The message is that disability is not an innate characteristic, but an oddity that can be mimicked with the appropriate accessories or mannerisms. A wheelchair. A cane. Slurred speech. Hollywood distills disability into its most simplistic and obvious elements.

Some of us are trying to change things and provide people with disabilities with more opportunities to participate in all levels of content creation, but that's a long-term goal. In the meantime, a few questions for all of you: how would you like to see people with disabilities portrayed in popular media? Are there specific stories you want to see? Can a disability-specific media outlet still have mass appeal?

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Comments

I love CSI. In the original one the coroner is played by the disabled Robert David Hall. And he just plays a regular character - I think his lack of legs has been mentioned about twice in the 7 year run of the show.

And in 5 episodes of CSI:NY the DNA expert Dr Giles was played by wheelchair using J. Grant Albrecht.

They do pretty well with guest stars too. Once in the original they investigated a murder at a Little People Convention necessitating several disabled guest stars, not to mention a whole hotel full of disabled extras.

I haven't seen it, but I understand Marlee Matlin has been in an episode of CSI:NY.

Which makes it all the more disappointing when they don't cast disabled people in disabled roles, like when they cast T R Knight (now v famous for Grey's Anatomy) as the learning disabled sibling of a dead guy.

But, on the whole CSI does better than any other show on telly.

On the subject of Marlee Matlin, she gets around American TV shows a bit. From appearing in just the one episode of a show like CSI:NY or ER to being a regular guest star in shows like The West Wing and My Name Is Earl.

My number one complaint are the use of wheelchairs in all form of mass media - often seeing main or small part characters in ill fitting, cumbersome wheelchairs for a long term user - I find it absurd that somone is hired to make sure the characters all have the right "tone" of clothes but that effectively someone's wheelchair which acts as prostetics legs are going to be 40 years out of date, and virtually useless (what do you think a person might actually care about more - their T-shirt or if they can move around?). I write letters to the companies every time I see this, but have yet to recieve any replies.

  • 3.
  • At 07:54 AM on 10 Sep 2007, Gavroche wrote:

Adding to what Elizabeth is saying (and shifting genre ever so slightly), I went to see a play a few days ago, which had an "old man in a wheelchair". Now, not only was he clearly not a wheelchair user (he kept bumping into things... unless that was the point?), but also, the play was set in the 30s and he had aluminium curb climbers. Apart from almost spitting water out all over the stalls, it concerned me that no one seemed to understand my hilarity.
Brilliant post. Like it.

  • 4.
  • At 09:26 AM on 10 Sep 2007, Joyce wrote:

A film featuring hearing impaired characters that had (has) mass appeal is the German film, titled in English,"Beyond Silence." It not only portrays issues of a family wherein the parents are deaf but the children are not, it has a love story in it as well as fascinating German scenery. It is in German with German sign language throughout much of it--but it has English subtitles. I do not know if the actors are deaf in real life but the storyline seems to be realistic.

  • 5.
  • At 09:52 AM on 10 Sep 2007, Chris Page wrote:

I don't know about the States, but seeing a wheelchair-user in a clunky old wheelchair is just portraying how it is for us average British crips - because a lot of us can't afford fancy wheelchairs, so we depend on the NHS.

On the subject of wheelchairs being appropriate in film/TV/theatre - has anyone else seen "Frida"?

Surely I can't be the only one that thought her wheelchair looked way too modern for 1922?

Is it not simply possible that the problem is a lack of talented disabled actors? I’m sure that most directors would prefer to cast a disabled person in such roles (unless of course they’re Oscar baiting, then they’d cast Russell Crowe). The acting required is always going to be more than just acting the disability, ‘normal’ acting skills will be necessary too. My point is that there aren’t even all that many great able-bodied actors around. Restricting casting to only the disabled would shrink that pool even further. I expect it’s probably a case of working with what you have! If you can’t get a top quality disabled actor then surely the film will be better off with a top quality able bodied actor rather than a less talented disabled one?

A mention should also go to Marlee Matlin if we’re talking about deaf actors and actresses. She is a great talent who has starred in many top US TV shows – eg. The West Wing, My Name Is Earl, The L Word.

Responding to Joyce, about the movie "Beyond Silence" (Jenseits der Stille) - the parents were played by Howie Seago, fantastically talented US stage Deaf actor/member of the National Theatre of the Deaf in the US, and Emmanuelle Laborit, Deaf French actress.

So did they both have to learn a foreign sign language for the film?

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