To think (professional) able bodied actors shouldn't be given roles of characters with disabilities

[manicinsomniac]

Or not unless no disabled actor is available who can play the role (as might be the case with a severe disability or amateur acting).

This video: www.facebook.com/disabilityonthemighty/videos/1395870050538459/
has been doing the rounds among my thespian type friends on facebook and I think it makes a lot of sense.
(in summary it says that 20% of people are disabled but only 2% of characters on tv have disabilities and 95% of those roles go to able bodied actors leaving very few opportunities for disabled actors. It compares old practices of casting white actors to play black characters and says that able bodied actors playing disabled characters should be equally avoided nowadays).

It's getting a lot of positive attention but some people are saying that there's no point in acting if we only get to play characters like ourselves and that some actors have given brilliant portrayals of disabled characters (Leo di Caprio in What's Eating Gilbert Grape comes up a lot).

I do agree with that point but I think there are enough challenging roles out there for talented able bodied actors without taking the few roles available to disabled actors. I don't think they should be allowed to have the roles unless the casting director/director has tried and failed to cast a suitable disabled actor. AIBU?

manic I also saw that Olivier production as a teenager. I was utterly mesmerised by his very blue eyes! Couldn't concentrate on the play at all.

I did see a fantastic production of Macbeth at the RSC where Banquo (I think) was played by a black actor.

They are adults but yes - long brown hair seems more importan than skin colour

sp if an abled bodied actor can play a disabled person. why can't a white person play a black person?

I think there was a similar thread recently with regards to the film Wonder, where (I can’t recall his name!) the child from Room was cast. In this case, it was that the children they saw who were disabled couldn’t commit to the huge amount of time it took or something like that.

Honestly, I’m on the fence about this. I think the issue would be access to training, agents, etc for disabled people. The current crop of ‘actors’ might be lacking with this, but you can’t blame a casting director for going with the most talented or bankabke choice. (The Rock for example playing an amputee... he’s a box office draw.)

I was really surprised to find out that the actor who played Artie in Glee wasn't really a wheelchair user. There's no excuse for that really. I think it would be unusual for a UK-made programme to use an able-bodied actor in a disabled role. Having said that, the other issue is the dearth of disabled characters on television screens. I can only think of Clarissa from Silent Witness off the top of my head - played by a very good actress.

Samcro - I suppose because, aesthetically, it is actually possible whereas it isn't possible for a white person to realistically play a black person. Even if they are blacked up, they don't look the same. To an observer, there is no difference between a disabled actor and an actor acting disabled (depending on the disability and if it's been done right).

On an ethical level though, I completely agree with you and I think that's the whole point of the video - if one isn't okay then the other shouldn't be either. It's easier for directors to get away with but that absolutely does not make it okay.

With the one caveat that it would never (on a professional level - different for amateur in some areas) be impossible to find a suitable actor of the correct ethnicity for a part. It might be impossible to find a suitable disabled actor, depending on the disability. I do think they could find one in most cases though, if they made the effort to.

I agree, but I think what would be much better is casting more disabled actors just in 'roles' - any old role, because anyone can be disabled.

Totally agree.
However at the same time, if it is from a known book where the character clearly doesn't have that disability then it would be wrong to add it as well.
I would like to see characters on TV and in books who are disabled and they get on with their life and their story is not entirely round their disability. Mostly a disabled person is either their character is entirely round their disability, or they're put in to make the hero/heroine look sympathetic when they're nice to them. Or occasionally bitter because of their disability.
But (for example) if Dr Who was missing a hand, you could have him with an amazing prosthetic, but other than that very little mention. That wouldn't be wrong. If you cast Jane Eyre with a missing hand it would be wrong as she clearly wouldn't have had that.

My dd2 acts (not on TV) and she knows when she goes for a casting there is a chance that she is rejected on sight due to her missing hand. There is also a chance that the director looks at her and thinks they can make something of it, and then she may get it.

When they're adding a disabled character, I think part of it is the difficulty of finding the right people, who can act, with the right disability. Dd2 was once asked to go for an audition with the BBC. When she got the script the character was a boy missing his leg. "Oh it doesn't matter" said the casting director. Just a slight difference.

I think from experience of casting directors they often have a fixed idea in their head as to exactly what they are looking for. So if you're blond, and they have an idea of a brunette then you stand little chance even if you're better at acting. So it would require a lot more open-mindedness for a casting director to cast someone who was obviously disabled simply because they would be too different from their fixed idea.

I think what would be much better is casting more disabled actors just in 'roles'

This happened with the character of Donna in Eastenders. They rewrote the character to include the actor’s disability as they liked her audition so much. The character was originally able bodied. Clarissa in Silent Witness also seems to be a character who “just happens” to be disabled. However, I can’t think of any another examples which is shit.

oh yes lets have the Rock pretending to be disabled and lets hold him up as a role model to disabled children......not.
i am not silly there are some roles that a disabled person could not play(my left foot I would imagine, never seen it but doesn;t it depict a seriously affected person who has Cp. to find and actor to play that would be impossible. i live in the CP world so get it,) but a person who is a wheelchair user....or an amputee a disabled actor could be found for that.

Although I agree, I think that the truth is that it often it comes down to hard-faced financial incentive for the film/tv production company. Having 'big name star' playing title role in a film will earn them more money than 'unknown' (but obviously equally talented) actor playing the same role. It's the old 'bums on seats', 99% of people would rather see someone they know and love portray a character rather than someone not famous.
This is not to say that things shouldn't change or that I agree with how things are done.

R.J Mitte for example was brilliant in breaking bad as Walt jr and (as far as I know) has the same disability as the character.

I think that there are times when a big name actor will be cast as a disabled lead, as there is no denying that certain actors will draw a bigger audience than an unknown actor.

What I would like to see is more characters that could be disabled that actually doesn't form part of the plot and therefore is irrelevant if a more diverse actor plays the part and therefore give them the chance for that exposure that could lead them to become a big name performer.

I sent you a message manicinsomniac

"However, I can’t think of any another examples which is shit." yes it is Soupdragon - really shit!

I am not as clued up on such things but have been reading as it is an interesting subject.

My question is possibly a bit uneducated but I am interested to understand why it is okay to have the BMA's? Surely if it was WMAs there would be uproar?

People with disabiities do not go round with a label in real life. You don't know who has disabilities among your neighbours and work colleagues. Many disabilities are invisible. What about actors with disabilities playing able bodied characters; just to mention a few - Judi Dench has aged-related macular degeneration, Susan Hampshire has dyslexia and Morgan Freeman has fibromyalgia.

A matching disability to the role doesn't mean they are the right actor for the role though.

@SoupDragon Izzy in Corrie (EDS) and Jason in ?Holly (autism)
Both played by disabled actors

I have a stage manager friend who was in charge of children in a panto (not DD's panto)

One child had 'issues' the child's mum wouldn't elaborate

The child struggled massively with the panto rehersals - I sent over some 'helpful tips' as I felt from the description the child may have been ASD - my tips helped a bit but disclosure from theparent would have helped more

But for the production employing a child who may have ASD was not a resounding sucess - for lots of reasons

Imagine that child portraying a child with ASD - the complications could have increased significantly and I'm not sure it would have been a positive environment for the child

so who would have played Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything ? I thought Eddie Redmayne was incredible ...

*doesn't necessarily

Coronation Street has Izzy, who has Ehlers Danlos and uses a wheelchair, and a young man called Alex, who has Downs. There's also a character with bipolar, but I expect the actor doesn't.

Holly Holby

Is this following on from the discussion on The Last Leg last night? Originally I’d have said that a disabled actor should have been cast in place of giving The Rock a prosthetic leg but then Alex Brooker made an interesting point that seeing The Rock as an amputee normalises prosthetics to those who hold him as a role model (disabled or not), and that main stream exposure is good. This would not have happened with an ‘unknown’ actor with a real prosthetic. I thought it was a good point.

most colleges are still 90% white

Eh? Why would’t the be?

ive wondered this but then seen it taken further.people saying so can only people with cancer play the roles.people with mental health,ptsc,ocd etc when does acting a role stop and when can who play who?

In The Theory of Everything, Stephen Hawking starts off able-bodied, and gets worse during the course of the film, eg getting a tracheotomy and having to use a wheelchair. Someone who already had motor neurone disease probably wouldn’t have been able to do it, as it progresses fast and film production takes a long time from initial casting to the final wrap.

It’s a difficult issue. Blacking up is rightly seen as wrong, yet pretending to be disabled isn’t.