And we did our due diligence…the first round of casting was actresses who were wheelchair users and we just didn’t find what we were looking for.”)ĪBC declined to give a comment on the record about the portrayal of disability on the show, but a source close to the show said that the idea for Eddie’s storyline came from the fact that one of its writers grew up with a disabled parent.īut this fact doesn’t lend to the storyline’s credibility, according to Professor Emeritus of Towson University Beth Haller, who teaches Disability and Mass Media Studies. ![]() I am a disabled director so I feel a great responsibility to work in that fashion. Kristen Renton is on the Lupus Ambassador Program in L.A. “Our production wanted is not just about disability, but we wanted authenticity throughout the entire fabric of the production, which is why we cast actresses with apparent and non-apparent disabilities to stay truthful to the story we were telling. (In a statement provided to IndieWire, “T11 Incomplete” writer/director Suzanne Guacci responded to Sherer’s claim: ”I’m like, ‘Why? How did you not find somebody ’? Especially when they’re the lead of a film like that, I think it just takes any integrity out of it.” Sherer is not upset that she was not chosen, she’s upset that the role was not cast authentically. But she lost it to Kristen Renton, an able-bodied actress. She auditioned for a lead part in the 2020 film “T11 Incomplete” about a paraplegic woman who falls in love with her home health aid. Sherer has been acting for nearly two decades and knows the sting of not being hired for a disability-specific part all too well. ”So watching Eddie’s storyline is a strong reminder to me of the work that still needs to be done.” “I have been seeing progress in the way disability is portrayed on TV particularly in the last couple of years,” Sherer said. Teal Sherer - actor, disability advocate, and creator of the web series “My Gimpy Life” - is baffled that people aren’t talking about its poor disability representation. There are no excuses for careless portrayals in 2021 and it’s time to hold productions accountable. ABC has a history of breaking ground in disability representation on TV with its 2016 comedy “Speechless,” which featured a disabled actor in a lead role centered around his disability. But Eddie’s storyline has only become more offensive as the season progresses, to the point of making me feel triggered and angry. ![]() The Academy Announces Key 2024 Awards Season Dates: Oscars Set for March 10Īs a wheelchair user who watches “A Million Little Things,” I tried to give it time to navigate through its difficulties representing disabled life authentically.
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