What Do You Think?

Do you think the
general publics’ opinions, views, and treatment of those with a disAbility are
fair and equal to those who are able bodied?

 

Do you think those with
a disAbility deserve to be treated fairly and equally? Is that only in some
circumstances, or all aspects of society?

 

Do you think some of
the opinions of society, the general public are influenced by their culture?

 

Do you think that
movies and television affect the culture?

 

Do you think that
repeated stereotypes and misrepresentations in film and television can
influence the opinions, views and treatment society has on a people, a class, a
minority or subgroup?

 

Did you know that
nearly all representation of those with a disAbility are written, directed and
performed by able bodied individuals? Does any able bodied person know what it
is like to live everyday with a disAbility – and with the knowledge that it
will never change – even after production ends?

 

Do you think that
disAbilities, such as paralysis, deafness, or blindness and others are
significant to the identity of a person just like their gender, race, age, or
sexual orientation?

 

Did you know that in
the 2005 Screen Actors Guild report on those with a disAbility showed that most
in the industry believe that actors with a disAbility can only be hired for
roles that were specifically written as characters with a disAbility? Did you
know that nearly all of the already limited roles that are written specifically
as characters with a disAbility are cast using able bodied performers? Double,
double standard or merely just double discrimination?

 

Did you know that there
are over 1200 SAG certified performers who bravely admitted by self identifying
themselves as a person with a disAbility even though they know their disAbility
will be stereotyped and discriminated against in the industry?

 

Do these performers and
others such as writers and directors with a disAbility deserve a fair and equal
opportunity to represent themselves in movies and television? Can you see the
significance of this – just as any person within the majority representing a
person of a minority subgroup?

 

Would these honest and
authentic portrayals affect the stereotypes propagated and perpetuated by
Hollywood and eventually influence the opinions, images and treatment of
society on those with a disAbility?

 

If you could, with
minimal effort, be able to help change all of this, the discrimination, the
stereotypes, the non-genuine representations of a person not belonging to a
specific minority subgroup – through supporting authentic voices and
representations of those with a disAbility – just as fairly and equally that
all other minority subgroups have in Hollywood – would you?