Originally written for the San Diego City Times blog site. Only slight edits appear here.
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By Chris Carr
People with visible disabilities comprise approximately 12 percent of the American population, and that number rises to nearly 20 percent when adding those with non-apparent disabilities, according to an article published by Inclusion in the Arts & Media of People with Disabilities (IAMPWD). Yet this group remains underrepresented in the broadcast media, both as journalists and as actors cast in television and movie roles.
Given the current influence of the media, without making an effort to include more of the disabled community in both on-screen and behind-the-scenes capacities, the danger exists that they will become more marginalized and will continue to be misrepresented to the larger society.
On Monday, October 25, NBC Universal (NBCU) hosted events in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, collectively titled “What Can WE Do?”, with the goals to “encourage internships for students with disabilities, fortify outreach, identify employment/accommodation resources and increase employment in front of and behind the camera” according to an email message. Numerous NBCU executives, including those from the creative side of the company and others from Human Resources were joined by a group of twelve college students and recent graduates with disabilities at Universal City in California. Similarly sized groups gathered at 30 Rockefeller Center and at a location in Miami.
The student participants included people with Cerebral Palsy, as well as those who are deaf and others who are blind, and still more with other conditions. Veterans of war, such as those who have fought in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, were also present because conditions like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can classify them as disabled.
The event began with a TelePresence meeting among those in the three participating cities to discuss issues of importance to the disabled community with regard to employment opportunities and fair representation in media. In Los Angeles, smaller group meetings focused on how to best increase the visibility of disabled people in media. Resumé reviews and speed interviewing sessions, held at the end of the day, were the other main activities.
This was a particularly exciting event for me to attend. I remember watching the local news in the evenings with my family while growing up and thinking about how much fun it would be to report a story “in the field” or to sit at an anchor desk. Putting aside the fact that I was only in my middle and high school years when I first started considering a career in media, I still possessed enough self-awareness to realize that there was virtually nobody like me in broadcast news, or even on television in general. The only figure I could identify with even slightly was John Hockenberry, the Dateline NBC reporter who uses a wheelchair due to a car accident in college. Throughout my day at NBC last week, I heard similar sentiments from other college-aged students: that there were very few role models in media for them in their formative years.
One reason for this lack of visibility has its roots in the fact that a minimal number of characters on television sitcoms and other programs are written as disabled. Perhaps more distressing is that of the six roles in which a character on one of the major broadcast networks has a disability, five of the actors are able-bodied, according to an NBC executive. The exception is Robert David Hall, who can be seen on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on CBS. Hall is also the National Chair of the PWD Tri-Union Committee, run by IAMPWD.
Oftentimes, if a character with a disability is written for a particular show, the disability itself becomes the reason for the role, rather than being coincidental or just one element of the character’s makeup. Having talked with those at the NBCU event in Los Angeles, they would like to see more disabled characters on television that are not only played by actors with disabilities, but also whose condition is not the main focus of the role.
This means that sitcom writers, for example, would put a disabled character in the same types of scenarios – romantic relationships, work environments, social settings – as their non-disabled co-stars. People in the disabled community want to be accurately represented in media as being no different from able-bodied people in their goals and aspirations, and portraying them in everyday situations helps to send that message. Having disabled people who work both on-screen and in off camera positions will help to lessen stereotypes on television shows and also increase accuracy in news stories related to the disabled community.
According to the same IAMPWD article mentioned above, networks other than ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox or NBC currently feature more characters with disabilities and typically do a better job of casting disabled actors to portray them.
“At least four cable characters with disabilities are portrayed by actors with disabilities [one of which is] character Walter White Jr. on AMC’s Breaking Bad [who] has cerebral palsy, as does [the] actor RJ Mitte,” the article states.
There is a greater emphasis today on including disabled people in the media industry, as evidenced by events like that hosted by NBCU last month. There is still much progress to be made, but organizations like IAMPWD and television companies like NBCU are working to address the disproportionate representation of disabled Americans in the media and increase awareness about this historically invisible minority.
If you would like more information about IAMPWD, visit their site here. To learn more about NBCU, which is creating space on its website to address Veterans and disability inclusion, go to this link.
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