WEBVTT - Equal Too: Accurate Representation Matters 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.080 There's a young boy who want to do what it 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:06.920 was cut up from our surgery prosthetic picts burgery telling 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:09.399 me I'm normal, but normal. They never really made me 0:00:09.520 --> 0:00:13.240 see they are always painting discriminated. But that seems like 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.360 such a tremendously obvious thing to do, doesn't it. Disability 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:19.960 sport presented by the people with disabilities. Only no one 0:00:20.120 --> 0:00:23.000 in the world had ever done anything like that before. 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:25.880 It was revolutionary. I was looking at these kids and 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:29.160 they were in awe. They were like, We've never seen 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:34.880 this before. We don't have a disabled actress who was 0:00:34.960 --> 0:00:38.200 an Oscar winner and who's on the cover of Vote. 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:41.760 I quickly found like, when we have clients who go 0:00:41.880 --> 0:00:45.640 to jobs that are completely unrelated to disability, they would 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:50.159 consistently be asked to speak about their disabled experience. This 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:53.960 industry that I'm in, the entertainment industry is wonderful in 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:57.360 many ways and can achieve great things, but as also 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.840 responsible for so much and the world and so many 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:21.440 dangerous narratives, and it's responsible for so much A Raser. Yeah. 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:37.000 Throughout the interviews for this series, one issue comes up 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:42.840 time and time again. Representation. The general consensus appears to 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:46.119 be that in all parts of society, disabled people are 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:51.880 represented inaccurately, offensively, or worst of all, they are ignored. 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:58.240 In this episode, we're asking why representation matters and how 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:02.840 we can achieve more accurate it and greater representation moving forward. 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.480 I'm Sophie Morgan and this is equal to episode three. 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:14.200 Accurate representation matters. How many the team behind this podcast 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:18.400 are exceptional and I use that word deliberately. They are 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.520 the exception to the rule because when they made the 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:26.360 Netflix documentary Rising Phoenix about the Paralympic Games, they insisted 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:31.040 on using disabled talent both on and off screen. From 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.120 day one, disabled people were put at the heart of 0:02:34.160 --> 0:02:39.280 the filmmaking process, Paralympians like us as Tatiana McFadden, who 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:41.400 we heard from in the last episode, was one of 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.800 Rising Phoenix's producers. The researchers were disabled as well. Even 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.680 the film's title track is a collaboration between composer Daniel 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.560 Pemberton and Crip Hop Nation, a movement of disabled hip 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:59.359 hop artists and musicians. Because due to the proactive approach 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:03.480 taken over six of the Rising Phoenix working days were 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:07.840 fulfilled by people with a disability, and in this podcast production. 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:12.800 Over sixty of the people involved identify as disabled. Both 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:17.600 projects were designed by disabled people for disabled people. Don't 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:23.440 fit into your perception, how dare you define me? I'm 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:29.239 beyond what you see as perfect. Rising Phoenix made its 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:33.640 stars into icons going into the film. Ellie Cole, an 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:37.880 Australian Paris swimmer and wheelchair basketballer, had already won fifteen 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:43.560 Paralympic medals about some Australia, and received the Order of 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.960 Australia and been named Cosmopolitans two thousand and fifteen Sportswomen 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.800 of the Year, but the film took her fame to 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:54.640 a whole new audience. I didn't really couldn't really comprehend 0:03:54.720 --> 0:03:57.680 just had big Rising Phoenix was going to be until 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.320 probably the day it dropped on Netflix and I started 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:05.240 getting hundreds upon hundreds of messages from people all over 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:08.960 the world, including one David Beckham, which just blew my mind. 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.880 But for me, I'm just very proud, like I said before, 0:04:12.880 --> 0:04:16.279 to be in a documentary that actively promoted the Paralympic movement. 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.039 I think the main basis of messages that I was 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:22.440 getting was we didn't really understand the struggles that Paralympians 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.240 go through. You know, we can't believe that there are 0:04:25.279 --> 0:04:28.320 so many financial struggles just for the Paralympic Games to 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:31.520 be hosted. You know, this needs to ends. And so 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:34.560 I think it was almost like a movement of people 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.960 just crying out for a quality UM and I have 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.360 seen a significant change in that over the last twelve months. 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.680 Part of that change was the growing visibility of disabled 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:51.640 people in the media beyond the Games. In fact, Ellie 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.200 broke the glass ceiling when she appeared on the cover 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:57.560 of Australia's Women's Health magazine. I remember from me, you know, 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:00.279 picking up my Women's Health magazine and seeing my self 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:04.200 on a cover. I just had this like moment where 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:10.080 I reflected on my entire life and how I'd almost 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:14.560 always been put in a bit of a corner. Um. 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.400 It's almost like I was invisible, and then for me 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.479 to be able to hold this magazine and see that 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:24.159 like people with disabilities are all of a sudden everywhere, 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.479 Paralympic athletes are all of a sudden everywhere. You know, 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:29.800 people are so proud to UM own us is one 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:31.920 of their own. Like I know Australia is very proud 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:36.400 of their Paralympic athletes. One of our major supermarketing chains 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:41.320 is promoting the Olympic and Pilampic Games this month, and 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.400 they have quite a few cardboard cutouts of the athletes 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.240 all across their store. And four weeks ago, there was 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.080 this little girl, she would have been about six years old. 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:55.200 Um she also had one leg, and she was standing 0:05:55.560 --> 0:06:01.040 next to my um my supermarket poster and I remember 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:03.960 seeing it and maybe tear up because I had never 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.280 had that as a child. And apparently this young girl 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.320 like saw my clad out so that I had one leg, 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:11.640 and she just screamed out, like, mom, there's a girl 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:15.240 that looks exactly like I do. These examples prove the 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:19.920 power of representation, that even the smallest amount of visibility 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:23.960 and recognition can have a huge impact on individual people 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:28.239 and the world. But right now, there is very little 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.839 representation of disabled people in the media, let alone in 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.920 Hollywood itself. But there is someone who has managed to 0:06:35.960 --> 0:06:39.479 break through. Hello. My name is Jamia Dmill and I 0:06:39.520 --> 0:06:44.280 am an actor, a writer, a host, and an advocate. 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.800 So lovely to see my favorite thing joining Jamila and 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.520 me in this conversation is Shenaid Burke said, is a 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:56.839 leading disability advocate who through education, advocacy, and design is 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:00.160 changing the fashion industry. And there's also an exact could 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.960 producer on this podcast. So I've read that you say 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.479 that you're an advocate first and all of those other 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:10.080 things after. Yes, why is that? Why do you say that? Well, 0:07:10.120 --> 0:07:12.840 I think that's by nature. I think I'm probably recognized 0:07:12.880 --> 0:07:17.280 still first and foremost as an actor, but I it's 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:19.400 what It's my driving force in life, and it has 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:21.800 been since I was nineteen, and it's really the only 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:24.720 way that I can carry on in this industry because 0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:28.320 this industry that I'm in, the entertainment industry, is wonderful 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:32.440 in many ways and can achieve great things truly on 0:07:32.520 --> 0:07:36.120 like a humane societal level, but it's also responsible for 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:40.280 putting so much into the world and so many dangerous narratives, 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:45.320 and it's it's responsible for so much erasure um people 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.880 with disabilities still treated as a mistake and anomaly that 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:53.400 we should just ignore and pretend aren't there and then 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.400 maybe they'll go away. And I think that it's been 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:01.120 really interesting to straddle this industry with as being a 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:04.880 public figure as well as having an invisible disability myself 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.840 so I kind of straddle both of those worlds and 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.800 recognize how often I try and bring it up, and 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:15.200 how often no one wants to hear it from me. 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:16.920 They just want me to look nice on the cover 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.480 of the magazine. And it really hurts my feelings because 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.320 I grew up with much more visible disabilities and I 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:24.560 was in crutches, on ZIMP frames, are in a wheelchairs, 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:29.840 and and I remember just how lost and lonely I felt, 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:32.600 and how I felt like I could never be loved 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:34.480 or I could never be accepted, or I could never 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.720 go out and have fun because I would never was 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.679 never able to see that reflected back at me, you know, 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:44.560 from any form of media, not in any magazines and 0:08:45.960 --> 0:08:49.520 in the movies, they portray people with disabilities always as 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:53.560 a sub story. There is a story arc for the 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.000 non disabled person, and they are the tragedy that's weighing 0:08:58.040 --> 0:09:01.319 down the non disabled person. They're never just out getting 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.960 piste and having a laugh, you know, They're never ever 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.920 having an awkward sex scene that rarely able to be 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:14.080 in comedy. It's just so because I remember how painful 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:16.000 that erasial was. I think it's why I fight for 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.240 so many different types of representation, not just disability representation, 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:20.640 but I feel as though it is the one that 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:25.240 is the greatest emergency of us needing to address. So 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:29.760 what would better representation look like? Well, currently the UN 0:09:29.960 --> 0:09:34.360 estimates that around one billion people worldwide live with a disability. 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.560 That's about fifteen percent of us. But do we see 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.360 that fifteen percent reflected on our screens? And I just 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:43.760 don't know how many more examples we need of finally 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:50.120 accepting or like representing a minority and registering how it's 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:53.280 not only good for society at large, it's also great 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.760 for profit. You know, the Purple Pound does exist, and 0:09:57.160 --> 0:09:58.839 there is money to be spent. People do want to 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:04.080 see representation and Black Panther, Crazy, Rich Asians, Bridesmaids, Shrill, 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:09.160 all these different shows that finally finally paid homage to 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:14.520 these different groups who exist in the world everywhere, how 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:17.120 well they did, and how it only made the world 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:20.520 a better place to have that increased diversity. And so 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:25.120 it is it is up to magazines and media figures 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:29.520 to represent and show up. But do we see that 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.720 fifteen percent reflected on our screens? Janaid Burke, who we 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.839 heard earlier advocates for the fashion industry to be more 0:10:36.880 --> 0:10:40.800 inclusive of disabled people. In her TED talk, she spoke 0:10:40.840 --> 0:10:45.040 about why design should include everyone and is now director 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.520 of the design organization Tilting the Lens, which works to 0:10:48.600 --> 0:10:52.760 raise the baseline standards of accessibility in design. Her best 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.280 selling book, Break the Mold asks what it means to 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:58.240 be different in a world where you feel that you 0:10:58.280 --> 0:11:01.240 don't belong. The research is really clear when we talk 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:05.800 to this about representation, because you know, all speaking characters 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:10.800 across the top movies of Titsan nineteen, only two point 0:11:10.920 --> 0:11:17.200 three had a disability and of the top TV network shows, 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.640 only twelve of disabled characters who are within a minority 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:26.360 already or played by disabled actors. I mean when you 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:31.120 look at statistics like that, reflecting also on the success 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:37.199 of Crypt Camp, Rising Phoenix, Coda, Sound of Metal, some 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:41.480 of which we have questions about how do we change 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.440 this or is the change already happening and we just 0:11:44.559 --> 0:11:47.479 need to be patient for it to become more accelerated. 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:55.839 Perhaps change is happening, just like Rising Phoenix, Crypt Camp 0:11:56.120 --> 0:12:00.360 mentioned thereby, said Broke the Mold. The film even had 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:03.880 a co director with a disability USA is Jim labret 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.960 I was born with spider bifida. I've had a career 0:12:07.960 --> 0:12:12.839 in audio for over forty years, as first in theater 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:17.040 and then in doing sound mixing, predominantly for documentaries in 0:12:17.080 --> 0:12:20.440 the San Francisco Bay area. But Jim's journey to success 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.960 has not been straightforward. Here he tells ed about the 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:28.000 challenges he's faced in the film industry. I found myself 0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:33.000 being really the only person that I knew with a 0:12:33.040 --> 0:12:38.200 disability working in post production audio. Unfortunately, I mean fortunately, 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:42.200 although I can't walk. I I grew up in a 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:46.640 split level house just North New York City, and my 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:52.000 bes on the top floor. So yeah, uh, and so 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:57.000 I was really good at climbing stairs. And you know, 0:12:57.040 --> 0:12:59.679 when you're working in theater as a sound person, you 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:01.840 have to be able to listen from different areas in 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.480 the theater. So I was able to park my chair 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:08.760 and climb out and listen from different locations. UM and 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:15.240 that gave me UM an incredible turning ground in regards 0:13:15.280 --> 0:13:20.600 to the aesthetics of sound. UM and I then wound 0:13:20.679 --> 0:13:24.800 up working for at an incredible facility in Berkeley, the 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:28.360 Salience Film Center. So all produced the English patient and 0:13:28.640 --> 0:13:33.000 unbearable likeness of being and there was a great facility 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:38.719 there and the Wheelshire access was very good. Um so 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:41.360 I was able to work my way up there then 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:45.560 started my own business. Quip Camp explores Jim's childhood at 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.200 a summer camp and how a group of friends became 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:53.559 history making disability activists. The world always wants us to 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.480 We live with that reality at the time. So many 0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.360 kids just like me, We're being sent to institute as 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:05.679 it was just a continual struggle. Disabled people like myself 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:10.000 are unable to use public transportations. We needed a civil 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:17.960 rights law of our own. Co directed with Nicole Newham 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:22.160 and with Barack and Michelle Obama as executive producers, the 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:26.720 film was nominated for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards. 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:31.080 Members of the Academy's Documentary Branch have chosen these nominees 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:37.640 for Best Documentary Feature, and they are Cript Camp. I 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.200 don't like to kind of say, oh my gosh, you know, 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:44.600 we broke down the walls and everything, but cript Camp 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:50.440 was really well regarded and what it showed Hollywood was 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:56.920 that there are authentic stories coming from the disabled community 0:14:57.080 --> 0:15:02.520 that people don't know about, and that very rich stories, 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:08.280 and that also people with disabilities can make OSCAR nominated films, 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:13.040 and I think that it and it's also good business, 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:17.479 so as we've seen with other communities that are marginalized, 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:21.120 once we are able to be the people that are 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:27.080 producers and directors and editors and writers, that we know 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:32.520 where these stories are and they're unique and they're they're fresh, 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:36.760 and they're new, and they're incredibly compelling that people want 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:40.520 to see them. So I think that I've heard of 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.640 kind of a crypt camp effect that I think helped 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.280 open the door much wider than it had been just 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:52.480 cracked before. Jim spoke about wanting to see disability represented 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:56.360 more widely in the film industry, with disabled actors cost 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.160 in every kind of role. The world that I want 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.720 to live in is one of which there is a 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.920 performer who has a disability playing a role that wasn't 0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:11.560 written specifically for someone with that disability. My kind of 0:16:11.640 --> 0:16:14.080 joke about this is that I live for the day 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:18.320 when I see a one armed barrista in the background 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:23.880 of drama and that they are there because we are 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.040 part of the fabric of society. Keeley cat Wells is 0:16:28.080 --> 0:16:31.600 from the UK and based in l A. She is 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:36.680 the founder of c Talent, an agency that represents disabled artists, athletes, 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:40.200 and influences. She tells us about some of the barriers 0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:43.160 that still persist in the industry. I quickly found like, 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:46.080 when we have clients who go to jobs that are 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:50.200 completely unrelated to disability, they would consistently be asked to 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:54.600 speak about their disabled experience, and it was almost like 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.960 people when they spoke to them, not disabled people, would 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:01.360 find the most interesting thing about them be disability. And 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:05.200 whilst obviously it's incredibly important that we have those experts 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:08.359 in disability, and we do some disability consulting as well, 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:12.880 and we represent some disability subject matter experts, and that's 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:16.160 incredibly important, but there is also a difference between those 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:20.639 subject matter experts and also people who are experts in 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:24.919 acting in cinematography, and we mustn't confuse the two. I 0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:28.480 think it gets exhausting for disabled people to consistently be 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:32.440 educating others on their lived experience or their access requirements. 0:17:32.800 --> 0:17:35.840 So I think as soon as we can get these 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.800 some of these experts in subjects beyond disability, then we 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:43.160 can both normalize the disabled experience and then break down 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.719 those barriers in in the employment process and beyond. Everyone 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:50.159 is definitely open to having more conversations, but what I 0:17:50.200 --> 0:17:53.480 would like to see is more action taken from those conversations. 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.960 Definitely seeing more and more organizations popping up that are 0:17:57.000 --> 0:18:00.680 doing the work, which is amazing. But I still think 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:04.520 we have this massive issue of pipeline and behind the 0:18:04.520 --> 0:18:08.240 camera representation, even though I think we're slowly slowly getting 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.000 there with in front of the camera representation, but I 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:15.959 would absolutely love to see this, you know, inequitable systems changed, 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:19.639 and I would like to turn those doubts that people 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.760 have into questions. I still think people are very afraid 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:26.160 to ask and to touch on disability just because they're 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:30.359 not familiar with it, and it's um they're just scared. 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:31.800 I think. So as soon as we can kind of 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:33.560 take that fear away, then I think we can move 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:37.719 move forward much quicker. But we're getting there slowly but surely. 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:43.000 Organizations like Keeley's are changing the conversation around disability. But 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:47.160 there are still long held and deeply entrenched stereotypes to confront, 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:51.560 and we don't need to look back far to find them. Historically, 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:53.600 if we look at if we look back to you know, 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:56.159 Captain Hook and the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the 0:18:56.200 --> 0:19:00.119 media's perception of disabled people. It's been a villains or 0:19:00.119 --> 0:19:04.199 of pity, and I think to bring that back to 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.520 society and be like, no, that's not what disability is. 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:11.960 This is what disability is, will be monumental to shift 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:16.879 perceptions in an inclusion. From books to films, TV and theater, 0:19:17.119 --> 0:19:21.480 negative portrayals of disability are tightly woven throughout our culture. 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:26.320 Even some of our most iconic characters are made villainous 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:30.719 by their physical or psychological impairments, whether it's Star Wars 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:36.320 as Quadruple and Pute, Darth Vader, Shakespeare's poisonous Hunchback, Richard 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:39.919 the Third, or the wheelchair user doctor Strange Love. As 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:44.520 keenly mentioned, sometimes the representation of disabled people does more 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:49.920 harm than good. The late great comedian and journalist Stella Young, 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.920 who happens to be a wheelchair user, in her claimed 0:19:53.000 --> 0:19:56.639 ted talk, describes those images you so often see of 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.720 disabled people. This is what she says, and in the 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.040 par as few years, we've been able to propagate this 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:06.480 lie even further via social media. You know you may 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.520 have seen images like this one. The only disability in 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:13.720 life is a bad attitude mm hmm, or this one 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:19.520 your excuse is invalid indeed, or this one before you 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:24.359 quit try. Yeah, you know, you might have seen the 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:27.359 one the little girl with no hands drawing a picture 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:29.879 with a pencil held in her mouth. You might have 0:20:29.880 --> 0:20:34.000 seen a child running on carbon fiber prosthetic legs. And 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:37.000 these images, there are lots of them out there. They 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:41.000 are what we call inspiration pawn and I use the 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:45.520 term pawn deliberately because they objectify one group of people 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:48.879 for the benefit of another group of people. So in 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:53.439 this case, we're objectifying disabled people for the benefit of 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:56.960 non disabled people. The purpose of these images is to 0:20:57.080 --> 0:21:01.320 inspire you, to motivate you, so that we can look 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:05.000 at them and think, well, however bad my life is, 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:08.480 it could be worse. I could be that person. Some 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:14.399 ads are created to make the viewer cry, and Christina Malon, 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.720 head of Inclusive Design at Wonderman Thompson, says, it's a 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.240 real problem and to get that emotional gut reaction to 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:25.280 keep your eyes on screen. But these ads do nothing 0:21:25.720 --> 0:21:30.840 for the disabled community. They actually hurt the disabled community. 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:34.240 So when we think about inspiration, we should think about 0:21:34.400 --> 0:21:41.840 people inspiring to act, not inspiring to cry an inspiration 0:21:41.920 --> 0:21:45.919 porn inspires people to cry and pity the community, and 0:21:45.960 --> 0:21:49.680 when that is one of the only kind of ads 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:54.399 that is out there about disability, then it makes disability 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:58.080 look like a negative experience. And like in any life experience, 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:00.520 you have positive and negative ones, and that's dis ability. 0:22:01.840 --> 0:22:04.640 But it shouldn't just be the one that people see 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:08.240 that is inspiration born. So often we see disabled people 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:13.760 represented in outdated tropes, the pitiful, the vulnerable, the weak, 0:22:13.920 --> 0:22:18.760 secondary character or the villain or superhuman. These tropes are 0:22:18.920 --> 0:22:24.159 harmful and if unchallenged, leave disabled people trapped. But what 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:29.040 about no representation whatsoever. Aaron Brown is the founder of 0:22:29.119 --> 0:22:33.160 one in four, a new disability coalition creating systemic change 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:36.960 for representation and access in Hollywood, and also a partner 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:40.719 at Management three sixty, one of Hollywood's biggest talent agencies. 0:22:41.400 --> 0:22:45.200 She told us about the personal cost of feeling unseen, 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:50.960 woralthfully under represented, and, UM, I guess I've always been 0:22:51.000 --> 0:22:55.600 subconsciously aware of that, but my real awakening to that 0:22:55.680 --> 0:22:59.520 has been in the past couple of years about how 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:05.959 how missing it is um on screen. Um, something you 0:23:06.200 --> 0:23:10.199 internalize the disabled person is that you don't deserve to 0:23:10.320 --> 0:23:14.640 be portrayed on screen and my awakening is and how 0:23:14.760 --> 0:23:19.960 misguided that is. Aaron's story reveals just how much representation matters, 0:23:20.440 --> 0:23:23.320 and it can be especially powerful for children growing up 0:23:23.320 --> 0:23:26.679 with a disability seeing themselves on TV or in the media. 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:29.560 This is r J. Mitty, one of the stars of 0:23:29.640 --> 0:23:33.600 hit American drama Breaking Bad and mass media with disability 0:23:33.800 --> 0:23:36.639 wasn't really there. No one really talked about disabilities like 0:23:36.920 --> 0:23:39.920 I grew up talking about disabilities because my grandparents and 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:43.800 and I having having a disability and all the people 0:23:43.800 --> 0:23:46.960 in my life from from physical to internal to to 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:51.560 mental disabilities. Um so I always grew up around it. 0:23:51.600 --> 0:23:55.600 I never realized how to the majority of the world 0:23:55.640 --> 0:24:00.080 at the time, it was so abnormal. Um And know 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:03.760 when when I was first started acting, I actually technically 0:24:03.800 --> 0:24:08.320 don't see myself as disabled. Um I. And even with 0:24:08.400 --> 0:24:12.760 like cerebral policy, I don't see myself categorized as having 0:24:12.760 --> 0:24:18.720 a disability, even though I I do, um that you was. 0:24:18.840 --> 0:24:22.400 I never told him. I never told him, never told him. 0:24:22.440 --> 0:24:27.160 So my my my resume, I would submit, it would 0:24:27.200 --> 0:24:30.359 just have me. I didn't put cerebral policy. I didn't 0:24:30.480 --> 0:24:33.639 and and I didn't think it was relevant. It wasn't 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:37.480 like I it wasn't really relevant. Why why do you 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:42.840 need to know something that really has It's not in 0:24:42.840 --> 0:24:45.440 the breakdown, it's not in this it's it's it's not relevant. 0:24:45.760 --> 0:24:48.960 And so if they were looking at me a little funny, right, 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:51.920 and they were like, there's something like wrong with this kid, 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:58.000 I would go, oh, by the way, I have cerebral policy. Uh, 0:24:58.040 --> 0:25:01.320 And that was just kind of nothing nothing. What do 0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:03.280 you what are you going to say? Oh, sorry, we're 0:25:03.320 --> 0:25:06.040 not going to see you now. Since Breaking Bad FINALI 0:25:06.480 --> 0:25:08.959 are J has gone on to feature in multiple films 0:25:09.000 --> 0:25:11.960 and TV shows. And you know, I think everyone has 0:25:11.960 --> 0:25:16.280 a right to audition for a role, disabled or non disabled. 0:25:16.880 --> 0:25:20.960 You roll should not discriminate on on that. It should 0:25:20.960 --> 0:25:24.879 be about the character who that character is. Like, you know, 0:25:25.160 --> 0:25:30.280 it's not every character that should have CP, but it 0:25:30.320 --> 0:25:34.280 doesn't mean that the character can't have CP. Like it's 0:25:34.400 --> 0:25:40.480 these these nuances on just looking past the the the 0:25:40.680 --> 0:25:44.520 shell and looking in the more depth characters. But now 0:25:44.640 --> 0:25:48.760 from the camera to the catwalk, what about representation in 0:25:48.800 --> 0:25:53.040 the fashion industry, Let's go back to che book. I 0:25:53.240 --> 0:25:56.440 never saw anybody who looked like me in spaces where 0:25:57.320 --> 0:26:01.199 beauty was the underlying narrative because our bodies were not 0:26:01.240 --> 0:26:06.399 considered to be beautiful. And it was such a joy 0:26:06.440 --> 0:26:08.600 to be able to enter into some of those spaces. 0:26:09.480 --> 0:26:13.879 But in time I really began to reflect, is the 0:26:13.960 --> 0:26:18.760 system changing? Is it easier for disabled people to enter 0:26:18.880 --> 0:26:21.520 into the fashion industry based on the trajectory that I've 0:26:21.560 --> 0:26:24.520 been able to gain a build? Or did the system 0:26:24.640 --> 0:26:28.399 change for me? M And in some ways I think 0:26:28.440 --> 0:26:30.600 a bit of both, but more that it changed for me. 0:26:30.680 --> 0:26:33.200 But that's not enough, because there are so few of 0:26:33.280 --> 0:26:36.760 us who get to enter these rooms that we cannot 0:26:36.840 --> 0:26:43.000 be satisfied by our presence alone. So we cannot be 0:26:43.080 --> 0:26:47.199 satisfied by visibility alone. And we can no longer settle 0:26:47.320 --> 0:26:51.120 for inaccurate depictions of disability and must hold to account 0:26:51.160 --> 0:26:55.640 those who fall back on outdated and damaging cliches. As 0:26:55.720 --> 0:26:59.879 Judy Human, star of Crip Camp, says, it's long past 0:27:00.040 --> 0:27:03.600 time for this cultural invisibility of disabled people to end. 0:27:04.440 --> 0:27:09.160