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Streep speech prompts discussion about actors with disabilities

Actors at the Inclusive Theater of Western New York in Buffalo.
Courtesy Aimee Levesque
Actors at the Inclusive Theater of Western New York in Buffalo.

At the Golden Globe Awards this year, Meryl Streep received an honorary award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.

In her acceptance speech, she criticized President-elect Trump for mocking a reporter with a disability. Trump, who denies that, dismissed Streep’s comments on Twitter.

“When the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter -- someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. It... it kind of broke my heart when I saw it,” Streep said.

Streep’s speech is prompting strong reactions, both positive and negative. Some applauded her comments with agreement that no one, let alone people in positions of great authority, should mock someone with a disability. But others have reacted in a different way -- saying Hollywood has to take a look at its own acceptance of people with different abilities.

“What Meryl Streep said on the stage, I think, is phenomenal. I think it needs to be said more often,” said Danny Woodburn, an actor and disability rights activist.

Woodburn serves on SAG-AFTRA’s Performers with Disabilities Committee, which aims to increase opportunities for performers with disabilities.

“Anybody with disability can tell you from being on the playground – we know what it is to be bullied. We know what it looks like, we know what it sounds like, we know what it feels like,” Woodburn said.

Ninety-five percent of characters with disabilities are played by able-bodied actors, according to a white paper released by the Ruderman Family Foundation last year, which Woodburn co-authored.

RespectAbility, an advocacy organization for people with disabilities, said that has to change.

“At one point, white actors would play black characters. That is not acceptable in America anymore. If the character is black, the actor should be black,” said Lauren Appelbaum, a spokesperson for RespectAbility. “The same should be for individuals with disabilities. If the character has a disability, the character should be somebody with a disability.”

Appelbaum said that the more audiences see people with disabilities on screens and stages, the more inclusive our culture will be. And that inclusivity, she said, could in turn improve access to health care, employment and education.

“I don’t believe that directors and casting agents are intentionally discriminating. Part of it is really just not thinking about the importance of full inclusion,” Appelbaum said.

GLAADreported that fewer than 2 percent of scripted television characters have disabilities. That’s a large discrepancy from the estimated 20 percent of the U.S. population who live with a disability.

“What we’re seeing on the screen isn’t representative of the world that we’re in. And it’s like there’s a disconnect somehow. Hollywood never caught up to the world that we’re living in,” said Aimee Levesque, who serves on New York state’s Developmental Disabilities Planning Council.

Levesque’s daughter, Jessica, who has autism, has long dreamed of being an actress.  For years, Levesque and Jessica would drive over an hour for acting classes from their Buffalo, New York, suburb. But about a year ago, Levesque established the Inclusive Theater of Western New York.

“In knowing the folks that come to the classes that we teach, they are more than capable. What’s lacking is the opportunities to showcase what they’re capable of doing,” Levesque said.

As for the world of Hollywood, advocates at RespectAbility hope established actors will push for a more inclusive culture.

Danny Woodburn says he’s seen a little progress this year.

“We recently came together and did a studiowide round table discussing performers with disability in our industry -- where we’re headed, where we’ve been, what needs to be done to change,” he says.

This story is reported from WXXI’s Inclusion Desk.

Karen Shakerdge covers health for WXXI News. She has spent the past decade asking people questions about their lives, as a documentary film producer, oral historian and now radio reporter.
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