ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how disabled producers, directors, writers, and actors who have power in the production of entertainment media content are disrupting ableist stereotypes long represented in television and film. For too long, nondisabled people created disability representation, and their disabled characters are the embodiment of Disability Studies scholars David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder’s concept of narrative prosthesis. In the narrative prosthesis framework, disabled characters are placed into the storylines of literature, film, and television to bolster themes of tragedy, villainy, inspiration, cure, etc. This chapter argues that the only way to disrupt the inauthentic ableist metaphors in film and television will come from members of the disability community being involved in all aspects of television and film productions. The chapter underscores the work of actor/comedian Geri Jewell’s work on Deadwood, the influence of Academy Award-winning deaf actor and now director Marlee Matlin, the 2021 film CODA that stars multiple deaf actors, the many clients of Hollywood agent Gail Williamson, who represented disabled performers, the inclusive film production and training organization in Australia, Bus Stop Films, which is committed to collaborative sets filled with disabled people as the actors, writers, and production crew, and the many initiatives in Great Britain and the United States that put disabled people in charge of their representation.
