 Hello there, my beautiful, lovely, talented, and delightful internet friends. Welcome back to my channel. Thank you so much for joining me and Harry the Cat Mug here today. Recently, I had a really cool experience where I was asked to audition for something because I was an amputee by a TV show. It was really exciting, it was really cool, it was an amazing experience to go through. And when I got that message, I thought, gosh, how forward-thinking and progressive of this studio to be asking me, a real-life amputee, to audition. To audition for this character that's dealing with a physical disability of the lower limb. And it is. I think it's really cool that they would do that. It's not normal for Hollywood to include disabled actors on set. Over the past couple weeks, I've found myself sort of pausing and thinking about this. Why is it that every memorable role of someone dealing with a disability that I can think of, case in point, was played by someone who is able-bodied? Why are so many awards won by able-bodied actors for playing disabled roles? Is that okay? Is that not okay? Is that maybe something we should think about a little bit further? I'm gonna give you a hint right now. It's probably that one. As we dive in, if you want to give this video a thumbs up or hit that subscribe button, both really help to support this channel. This channel is financially supported by my patrons over on Patreon. Link on screen if you are interested. But thank you for being here. Thank you for watching this video. And let's dive in. I like how you can just see Cakes' little head right back there. As I've thought about this, I've realized that I hold some prejudices might be the wrong word. This might be the right word towards myself, towards people dealing with disabilities, things and feelings that are pretty deep-seated. When I got this request to audition and I went through the process, the feeling that I initially had, like I said, was like, wow, isn't this great of them to think about including someone like me on their fancy, pretty Hollywood set? And as I thought about that a little bit further, I became a little bit uncomfortable with why I was thinking it. I think that there are a bunch of different factors at play here and I want to be really clear that I am in no way blaming one particular person. If an actor has played a disabled character, I don't have a personal problem with them at all. I think some people, some actors have done incredible jobs of that. Other actors have not done incredible jobs. Sometimes, oftentimes, it's very unrealistic because people who are actually dealing with disabilities are not playing these characters. However, the fact that 95% of roles are played by able-bodied people when the character is disabled I think speaks to a real problem, to a real discomfort we have with actual disability. When someone who is able-bodied embodies someone who is disabled on a TV screen, I think that there's sort of a disconnection that happens for us as the audience. We get to accept that character as disabled, we get to know them, we hear their story, but we know at the end of the day that that person is standing back up or that person isn't dealing with this challenge or whatever it is, right? As one article I read said, we know that we can still see them stand up and walk across the stage to pick up their award for portraying disabilities so well. There's a distance that's created from actual disability when people who are not actually disabled are playing people who are. And I'm going to be totally honest, I think another part of the problem that's in play here is that we don't think of disability as pretty or sexy. We don't think of it as hot, right? Generally speaking, that's not how conversations go. And I, for one, think that's very unfortunate. And to some extent, our TV show and movie industry is very focused on appearance. Now, just to be clear, disabilities are not just that, which you can see. There are many, many invisible disabilities. But being in a wheelchair or missing a leg or having extensive burns or being a person with autism, these things don't fall into the Hollywood norm. Over the past couple of weeks, I was thinking about it and I realized I don't know a single actor or actress who is an amputee. And as I've become an amputee, as I've gone through this process, I've realized the importance of representation. Representation being seeing someone on a screen or a poster or in a magazine or giving a speech who is like you, who is dealing with the same thing. This example is very clearly illustrated for me when it comes to dancing. Dancing is one thing that I thought I could probably never do, at least never do well as an amputee. And I love dancing. Let's be very clear. I am no good at it, but I love it. I love being able to move. I love swing dancing and ballroom dancing and any kind of dancing. I want to learn them all. And I sort of thought that I would either be really awkward or just like not be able to do it, you know? And then I saw this clip from Dancing with the Stars with Amy Purdy and I realized how very wrong I was seeing someone who looked like me, though she is a double baloney amputee and I am but a lowly single baloney amputee. Seeing her dance like that, seeing her dance so gracefully and so beautifully, gave me so much hope and legitimate inspiration and excitement. It matters to see people who look like you doing things. It matters to hear stories. It matters to see people. And I think a counterpoint and perhaps a valid point to raise is that if you're dealing with a disability, you may have some specific needs, right? You may need set to be accessible. You may be dealing with pain and not be able to work quite as long hours. You might react and respond to things a little bit different than a neurotypical person. It might be a slightly different experience for a set to have someone who's dealing with a disability, a person with a disability as part of the cast. And I think it's really important to acknowledge those things and figure out how to address them. And I think that there's another argument to be made here, right? Because actors embody and portray something that they are not, generally speaking. So when an able-bodied actor embodies someone who is disabled, someone who is not like them and does an amazing job of that, I think that that's incredible acting. Again, I don't have a problem with that. I don't have the least bit of a problem with an actor doing a good job with that, right? I think it's a challenging acting experience, probably. I don't know. So let me be very clear. I am not saying that able-bodied actors should not play disabled characters. I don't think that at all. Maybe that's the ideal. I'm not sure, but I know that I personally don't feel weird about that. What I feel weird about is the fact that 95% of roles of disabled characters are played by able-bodied actors. When I guarantee you there are very talented disabled actors out there who could be taking 50% of those roles. I think about one of my favorite movies. Now, bear with me. I am not a horror movie person, but I don't actually think this is a horror movie. I think it's a movie about family, but that's a conversation for a different time. A Silent Place. So fun story. What I'm referring to is actually the quiet place. I know I just said that it's one of my favorite movies because it is, but I definitely got the name wrong. More than once. Good job, Joe. In A Silent Place, there is a character that is deaf and she is played by a deaf actress. And when I heard that, the whole conversation around it was all like, yay, look at them casting someone who's actually dealing with that to be the character, aren't they? Oh, let's applaud them. Aren't they being generous and kind and great? And at the time I was like, yeah, that's great. Good for them. But thinking about it a little bit further, I was like, wait, shouldn't that be somewhat expected or at least not abnormal? Shouldn't that be a generally understood thing? Like all of our male roles are not portrayed by female actresses. All of our roles of people of color are not portrayed by white people or at least they sure as hell shouldn't be. That's a whole other very intense conversation for a different time. But why are we totally accepting of the fact that all of our disabled roles are played by able-bodied people? I think it's an important conversation I have. Again, this is not to point the finger at anyone. This is not to blame anyone. This doesn't come from a place of anger. It comes from a place of legitimate thinking that, wow, maybe this isn't exactly the best way things could be. In fact, maybe this is kind of wrong. Maybe we are excluding people with disabilities from Hollywood because they do not fit the mold that people have created. Maybe actors and actresses with disabilities should be given a shot at roles that portray their lives. Maybe they should be consulted. Maybe if that happened we wouldn't have so many, I don't even know what the right word is, but movies that portray people as purely inspirational or purely tragic. There's not a lot of nuance when it comes to stories of disability. Disabled characters are often sort of used as props in my experience. I've seen some really good shows and really good movies where that isn't the case, but there are a lot of examples where that is the case. I'm going to link down below a video by Jessica Kelligren-Fozard, I hope I said her last name right, where she talks about autism in movies, which I think is a very important conversation. I am not a person with autism, but I thought it was a really important conversation to take a look at the way that autistic people are portrayed in the media and how that's not exactly the reality, the situation, and very rarely do they get it right. I think that's one of the problems. When you do not have human beings, when you do not have people who are actually dealing with these disabilities, as a part of your production where you're talking about a disability, you're just not going to have accurate information. You're just going to portray something that's not realistic, and I think that that can be very damaging. I also want to make it very clear that I am very grateful that this casting director reached out to me. I think that's incredible, and like I said, it was a really awesome experience, no shade towards them. In fact, the polar opposite. I think it actually does take a lot to go against the grain to break the mold. So when someone does that, I'm not saying that they shouldn't be applauded. Perhaps that's too strong of a word. I'm not saying that they shouldn't be thanked for doing that because I believe that they should be. I just don't think it should be so abnormal to see this happening. So all of that to say, I just think that this is an important, interesting conversation to start having. I'm interested to hear your thoughts down below. Do you think this is right? Do you think it's totally fine? Do you think it's wrong? Do you think it's abhorrent? Does it frustrate you? Does it make you mad? Do you not really care? Let me know your thoughts and feelings down below. This is something I'm still forming my opinions on. I'm still thinking about it. I'm still talking to people. I don't know. I think it should be more normal. And I think that there are a lot of walls to break down before we get there, which I'd be happy to be a part of doing through conversations like these. So I look forward to reading your comments down below. And thank you so much to all my patrons over on Patreon. Patreon is a platform where you can support the creators that you like, that you care about, that you support financially. In return, you get things like access to behind the scenes videos. I recently posted one of my little rats being all cuddly and cute. I introduced you to them. I have also posted another one of me going for a hike while my state was burning down. It was very smoky because my state is burning down and that's a conversation for another time. But if you're interested in exclusive videos and updates and polls and things of that nature, check out the link on screen or in the description down below. I'd love to see you over there and to you watching this video right now. Thank you so much for spending a few minutes out of your day here with me today. You could be anywhere in the world doing anything. You chose to hang out with me and listen to my thoughts about disabled actors in Hollywood. I appreciate it. I love you guys. I'm thinking about you and I'll see you in the next video. Bye, guys.