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?

Last year all the children who played Tiny Tim in Christmas Carol at the Old Vic have a disability. Also the boys in The Christmasaurus production all were wheel chair users.

My daughter wants to apply for a casting for a character that will have her disability. (In fact she’s submitted herself). It’s an open casting which is highly unusual & im guessing its because of the lack of young people on the agents books.

In the highly unlikely scenario she gets it I’m in two minds. It would be very exposing & very personal opening herself up to that. She is currently training & has places at college next year but I can understand the difficulties involved in casting disabled actors.

Yes, Jason in Holby does have autism. I think the disability is key to his character though rather than just happening to be disabled iyswim.

EE has Janet with Downs and two boys with unspecified learning difficulties too. Janet was specifically written as having Downs as part of the storyline, I’m not sure about the boys as the learning difficulties done seem to be part of the story (although they aren’t seen much tbh).

In New Tricks Nicholas Lindhurst’s daughter had CP, as did the actor playing her. She was very much a peripheral character without much to do but she just seemed to be a disabled person getting on with life (as they do in real life!!)

I can only think of Clarissa from Silent Witness off the top of my head - played by a very good actress.

No she isn't good. She's weak. It ruins SW for me because I cringe when she's on.

However, the disabled actress in a recent episode was amazing, so there are talented disabled actors out there, we just have to find them and help them grow.

Actors adopt the character and physical traits of the person they're playing. That's why it's called 'acting'.

Is the OP saying that casting directors should only use actors who have the same disabilities as the part they're playing? What about MH ? Last time I looked MH was classed as a disability.

Actors ACT. The whole point is that they are pretending to be someone or something they're not.

I think that the main thing to consider is the context of the character. So many soaps today have the token disabled character, then the muslim family, black family, lesbian or gay. I think this is very false, even if a disabled person is in the role.
I think that there need to be leads for disabled kids to look up to. Not just a wheelchair user in the background, but someone who is a hero, overcoming barriers to achieve.

I haven't noticed that in soaps. I know a lot of people do shout 'tokenism' when anyone who isn't a white able bodied cisgender heterosexual Brit is in a soap. But from my experience (i watch Corrie and am familiar with eastenders) part of the beauty is that the characters who are from one of the groups you mention are fully utilised and integrated and far from token. Look at Corrie. Who is a token there? I hate it when a soap has a diverse cast and everyone says it's tokenism without backing it up. Yet if they didn't have a character from those groups in this day and age they'd rightly be lambasted. They can't win!

I massively disagree with your last point quoted. There's enough pressure on kids with disabilities without feeling like they have to be fucking superheroes, fighting to overcome their disability. Why is it kids with disabilities who are under that pressure eh? Adults face it too. Inspiration porn. People are uncomfortable seeing individuals with a disability struggling or living a normal life, they ought to be smashing barriers and training for the Paralympics and believing that there's nothing they can't do. While dealing with issues that understandably DO limit them and can be painful and create barriers.

Show disabled characters who are just getting on with life. Make it so normal you don't bat an eye. Show kids that with a disability you can still live a normal life. Don't put our own warped ideas about 'inspiring' disabled people versus the ones who just aren't trying hard enough into their young minds.

Last time I looked MH was classed as a disability.

What classes as a disability in England is a little more complex and nuanced. Some MH conditions can fall into the category of being a disability. Some, many, don't.

Lemon
Serious question, I'm not goading. What MH issues are not classed as disabilities?

Holby has used disabled actors fairly frequently - sometimes as 'disease of the week', but fairly often as main or recurring characters. One anaesthetist, a background part, just happened to use a wheelchair. It was never referred to, it just was, IYSWIM.

www.gov.uk/when-mental-health-condition-becomes-disability

Just read this... Is this what you mean?

Remember that in some role, you need the actor to 'carry' the entire film- e.g. The Theory of Everything. If you have someone with a disability who is not a good actor, that will fail spectacularly. You are literally just putting someone on screen because they are disabled.

Many of these parts feature a before and after- e.g. Steven Hawking and the lead in Me Before You which someone who is paralysed cannot provide. Equally, Julianne Moore's film about Alzheimer's would not work with a person who actually had early onset dementia. Some, like Rainman, require a lot of careful skill and timing that someone with that disability would not be able to offer to the role.

It's not the same as blacking up for a role. There are lots of talented actors from all races who could carry a film. However, people with serious disabilities that directly affect cognitive function may not be able to give what is required to a role in a film that explores that particular illness or disability.

Also, how far do you extend this? Should films about cancer be played by genuine cancer sufferers for instance?

Yep Insp that's exactly it :)

There's no official register of disabilities or people with them in England. There's a misconception there is (when you hear 'I'm registered disabled') but what people usually mean is they're receiving disability benefits or have a disabled badge.

But those are the most often used guidelines for what constitutes a disability. So a MH issue that is short term, doesn't have a significant impact on your life, wouldn't fall under that category.

Some things do immediately like cancer, for the purpose of many HR policies. Those are exceptions.

I have an invisible disability (a chronic pain one), I know this as it fits those guidelines.

It's a huge cultural change isn't it. It's more fluid now. We don't think disabled and assume it's something outwardly obvious or that someone else tells us we are. People can and do self identify as disabled based on those criteria.

I can’t remember his name but the actor who played Walter Jr in Breaking Bad has a disability (cerebral palsy possibly?) and did an amazing job but then Eddie Redmayne in The Theory Of Everything was absolutely spot on (comparing him to my DB who had a similar condition)

Actors with disabilities should always be looked at first for these roles but if they can’t find someone suitable then an actor with no disabilities is fine IMO. What there should be though is more disabled actors cast as just actors, disabilities don’t define a person nor an actor.

What about long running dramas and soaps? If only actors with disabilities are allowed to play people with disabilities then you can’t have storylines in which characters sustain life changing injuries, and become disabled as a result, because the role would have to be recast?

inspector morse illnesses can be disabling but I don't see them as disabilities exactly. Otherwise there'd be no point in the terms 'mentally disabled, 'mentally ill', 'physically disabled' and 'ill'. I have several mental illnesses but I'm not disabled in the slightest. At times when I've been very ill, the limitations the illnesses caused could have been seen as temporarily disabling but that's all.

But, even if we do class MH as a disability there's very definitely no shortage of mentally ill actors in work!! Huge numbers of artistically inclined people have a mental illness - due to both pressures and personalities, I think.

There's no need, imo, for a character with a mental illness to have a 'matching' actor playing it because those actors have the ability to play a wide range of characters. But, for disabled actors, that 'matching' part might be the only one they can have

I was going to mention RJ Mitte in Breaking Bad as well. He did have CP I think but they never mentioned it. They were just a family with a child with a disability. I dont remember it being a plot point or anything. I agree more disabled actors should just be cast in roles because they are the best person for the job, same as any actor, whatever their race or sex, apart from obviously when the part calls for a particular race. The Othelllo example is always brought up and its nonsense. Othello would make no sense without the race issue. Thats why he is either black with a white cast, or white with a black cast. The play has no currency if all the characters are the same race, and downright offensive if the character is blacked up.

Its down to bad writing & stereotypes I think. RJ Mitte was fantastic in Breaking Bad, the storyline was not based around his CP so he could shine as an actor.

My DD has autism and I am a single mum. Why couldn't Karen Taylor in EastEnders be a hardworking parent who had to give up her good job to care for her boys, no she's now a scamming racist. Maybe disabled people don't want those parts.

Isn’t acting about pretending to be someone you’re not?

I think it comes down to whether the actor/actress is good enough (at acting) for the role, not whether it’s PC to cast them.

I've always been against type casting. The best actor should get the role unless the appearance of the actor is extremely important (where the film contains racist themes for example).

Fluff Yes it is. I said bad writing, not bad acting.

However, the disabled actress in a recent episode was amazing

Yes, that Silent Witness actress was really good in the care home episode. Having googled her, it was her first acting job too, although she does stand up comedy so isn’t new to performing completely. The actor playing Kevin was also very good I thought.

Just as a slight aside, it can actually be difficult even in professional productions (particularly theatre) to find good actors of the right ethnicity. This is a problem that stems largely from the lack of focus on drama and music in state schools and the under representation of BAME actors in good drama schools (and in music academies).

My view is that “blacking up” / “yellow face” etc is never acceptable, and that if enough actors can’t be found then the production should simply not be done. However, I would mainly love to see more focus on training BAME and disabled actors, and on exposing all children to the arts so that talented actors have the same opportunities to shine regardless of whether they go to the local comprehensive or to a private boarding school with two theatres.