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National Diversity Forum
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Mission
| History | Current Initiatives | |
Is Disability Considered a Part of
the “Diversity” Discussion?
by Robert David Hall
In my years as a working
actor and an advocate for people and performers with disabilities, I've noticed
two contradictory forces at work. A few things change while most
situations remain the same.
In the past five years I've had some personal success in the acting and
voiceover arenas. Apart from my own good fortune and hard work, I can't shake
the notion that the "powers that be" are uncomfortable with our
attempts to storm their castle walls. It is always an "us versus
them" scenario until you're on the inside - and precious few of us have
ever gotten CLOSE to the inner sanctums of the Entertainment Industry.
There are reasons for this:
Good and Bad reasons.
On the surface "disability" is a multi-layered situation. We
are easier AND more difficult to identify than other groups. Today's buzz
word is "diversity." Generally, this refers to ethnic
diversity, occasionally to gender or age differences. While there are
more than 54 million Americans with disabilities, we lag far behind as a group
in terms of education, employment, and life satisfaction (see the current
National Organization on Disability/Harris Survey on Living with A Disability).
This is certainly true in show business. Though you'll now see disabled
actors more frequently playing characters with disabilities, there's still a
penchant for slapping an able-bodied actor in a wheelchair, or putting
sunglasses on a sighted actor to play blind. This aggravates those of us
who are trained, talented, and experienced AND happen to be disabled.
Beyond this instance, however, is the need for society to view people with
disabilities as NORMAL, FUNCTIONING, CONTRIBUTING human beings. To translate this into TV-speak.
You won't have a career playing the "disabled" girl or guy.
You have to be seen as a cop, a coroner, a father, mother, lawyer,
housewife, lover, etc. You've got to play a mainstream character.
The disability must be secondary. There are, of course, some exceptions
to this, but very few.
As a group of people, I don't see People with Disabilities doing enough to
solidify our power base. We're all looking out for our particular room in
the house. The deaf for the deaf, the blind for the
blind, little people for little people, etc. Maybe it's possible
to have MS and still see yourself as part of a larger group called People with
Disabilities. If we are truly 54 million people strong, the advertisers,
networks, and studios should be chomping at the bit to show us ourselves in
accurate, positive images. That's happening rarely because we're still a difficult
group to categorize. We still are trying to find a unified voice.
“Inclusion” is probably the term I favor. Whether
you're an ethnic minority, older/younger, male/female, or disabled, you should
not be presumed to be inferior. I hate stereotyping but I also detest
those in our group who assume they're owed something. In
I remain hopeful that we’ll move forward as a group. The greatest
contributions from People with Disabilities are still to come.
Robert David Hall is seen weekly on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation playing Dr.
Al Robbins on CBS. He's also active in the voiceover and public speaking
arenas. He currently serves on the board of the National Organization on
Disability and is the National Chairman of the Screen Actors Guild and AFTRA's Performers With
Disabilities committee