Best Practice Guidance for Disability Portrayal and Creative Casting in TV Dramas and Movies

The principle purpose of storytelling and characterisation in drama or film is to help us learn about each other, and broaden our perspective of what it is to be human. This is not possible if the range of characters we are watching are not reflective of the breadth of diversity within society.
As visibly disabled people make up at least 10% of society, it is noticeable that they are missing from our screens. Yet, stories about disabled people or including disabled characters are popular with audiences. As a subject it is the most successful at the Academy Awards, and here are 23 examples of Oscars won by actors, both disabled and non-disabled who have portrayed disabled characters.

With this in mind, it is clear that audiences consider stories about disabled people’s lives to be interesting and engaging. Creating stories about disability with disabled talent also presents new and exciting opportunities within the increasingly saturated Movie and TV industries.

This guide is for TV and Film Production Companies to be used for any movie or scripted production.
The guidance is based on successes and failures of previous productions as well as recognised best practices such as the Writer’s Room Guidance from Triple C. It focuses on the process of creating interesting and accurate portrayals of disability regardless of whether characters are scripted as disabled or not.

Mobility created for the BBC won a BAFTA in 2024

The guidance is broken down as follows:

• Casting without Disability Bias
• Casting Resources for Finding Disabled Actors
• What is Creative Disability Consultant?
• A Brief for Hiring a Disability Consultant
• Identifying Disability in a Script
• Disability and Historical Accuracy
• Top 10 Things to Be Mindful Of
• Links to Useful Resources

Keivonn Woodard in HBO’s The Last of Us

Casting without disability bias

“Creativity is about making interesting choices, and disability is always an interesting choice.”
Zak Ford-Williams, Actor

How does a character enter the room if this action is not described in the script?

This is a question used by disability consultants to highlight unconscious biases and attitudes in casting process. The issue this question raises is why we should presume that a character walked, and if there is a specific story-based reason why other characters within the script must be non-disabled.

If a specific condition, impairment or characteristic cannot be transferred to a character, then it is also reasonable to assume that other disability characteristics can.
This opens up a huge number of casting possibilities as disabled people in real life are husbands, wives, friends, lovers, brothers, sisters, teachers, engineers, politicians, bureaucrats, criminals, scientists… They are people.
People can be good, bad or anything in-between. Don’t worry about the nature of a character. People can be strong, centred, vulnerable or deeply flawed, whether or not they have a disability.
It has been estimated that over 90% of all scripted characters could reasonably be played by a person with one or more disability characteristics, and only a lack of creative confidence on behalf of the casting decision makers prevents this from being explored.
Having a more open approach is very similar to what is often termed as “colour-blind casting” which has been transformational for ethnic diversity on stage and on screen, and has stimulated new ideas by bringing new perspectives to the creative process. Similarly, casting authentically for disabled roles brings insight and presents new creative opportunities that can be both interesting and engaging from the audience’s perspective.

Casting disabled actors as a process has two creative lenses:

1. Disability and incidental portrayal.
   Despite most characters in a production being able to be played by disabled actors, disabled actors are rarely given the opportunity to portray them. A method used at the start of the process is to look at each character in isolation and ask the question, “why can’t a disabled actor be cast in this role?”, with the follow-up, “what would disability bring to this role?”
   These questions give the creatives an opportunity to consider how disability could add further dimensions to a role not otherwise considered.
   A good example is the character Sam Burrell played by Keivonn Woodard in HBO’s The Last of Us. In the video game neither of the boys were Deaf, but in the TV series there was a decision made to write disability in the role as this added subtext and a new dynamic in their relationship with the protagonists.
2. Disability and authentic portrayal.
   It is important to cast as authentically as possible, with Deaf, vision impaired, physically disabled, actors of short stature and neurodivergent actors playing roles appropriately.
   If the character is a known disabled literary figure, or a historic figure, try to be as authentic as possible, but do not get completely hung-up on the detail as the lived experience of a particular person or character may be more important to the story than their diagnosis. This is something a Creative Disability Consultant can help explore.

Liz Carr playing Fantine’s concierge in the BBC’s adaptation of Les Misérables

Casting Resources for Finding Disabled Actors

Even though more disabled actors are coming through from drama schools, the comedy circuit, disability theatre companies and performing arts, they are still a minority, with only a few hundred professionals as opposed to the thousands of non-disabled professional actors available.
When looking at casting possibilities do not be so specific with the disability characteristic requirements of a role that it becomes impossible to cast.

Here are some lists of disabled and neurodivergent stage and screen actors with either links to their work or showreels to help with casting research:

· ProFile, a video database of D/deaf and disabled actors

· IMDB List of Disabled and Deaf Actors

· IMDB List of Neurodivergent Actors

· Wikipedia, Actors with Disabilities

· Disabled Voice Actors

When communicating with disabled actors and organising any face-to-face auditions, it is important to ensure an access co-ordinator is involved. Details about a disabled actors needs should be in their access rider, so check details in advance with them or their agent.

Ellie Wallwork as Hanne in the BBC’s Doctor Who, It Takes You Away

What is a Creative Disability Consultant?

This role is very similar to a dramaturge. It can be utilised by any TV or film production that is creating, casting or telling a story about disability. They can also be brought in to help explore the possibility of casting disabled actors in roles not scripted as disabled.
This is not to be confused with an Access Co-ordinator which is a completely different type of specialist who focuses on the practicalities of working with disabled talent.

The engagement of a Creative Disability Consultant should either happen during the development of a script as an advisor to the writers, or at the start of the casting process to help Show Runners, Directors and Casting Directors identify characters that could be played by disabled actors.
The engagement progresses beyond casting, working with the Director, actors and writers, focusing on aspects of storytelling and meaning. The aim is to ensure that both authenticity and creative opportunity stay forefront.
They should not be there to create characters, storylines or any aspect of the creative content, but are there to support writers and directors as an impartial expert opinion.

George Robinson as Isaac Godwin in Netflix’s Sex Education

The Creative Disability Consultant

• Should be contracted as a casting, script advisor and portrayal consultant, where appropriate.
• Should support the creative team in making creative decisions rather than being a decision maker.
• Should have experience themselves as an actor, director or creative professional so they understand the processes and environment they are working in.
• Should be credited for their advisory role.

If you have already cast a disabled actor, the role of a creative consultant should not be seen as an extension of their contract unless there is prior arrangement with them and their agent, and both credit and additional renumeration have been agreed.

S. Robert Morgan as Butchie in HBO’s The Wire

The Brief for Hiring a Creative Disability Consultant

Having a creative disability consultant can enable greater creative confidence from the writer’s room to the final edit. They provide an extra sense of experience and perspective, supporting the creative team in their decision making.

1. Research. They provide research, especially if the script features disabled literary or historical figures. They focus on the history, sociology, art, culture and linguistics of the work. This includes providing practical advice on the difference between literal condition portrayal, and the portrayal of the lived experience of disability. This can also include ideas like transposing a character’s visible condition to that of the actor if the attitudes and experience are an important factor rather than literalism. They also help to explore the impact of introducing an apparent (visible) disability not just on the character in question but the relationships of other characters with them.
2. Context. They should share insight into lived experience with production teams including the Directors, Writers, Show Runners and Actors, to ensure common understanding.
3. Script Advice. Disability can be a story, but it can also add new dimensions to a character or plot. It is not just an aspect of a character, but the attitudes of those around them that lend themselves to the authenticity of portrayal. Having a creative advisor will enable writers to feel more comfortable exploring possibilities, and provide a safe and creative space for exploration and feedback.
4. Casting Advice. When casting disabled actors there are several things a consultant can help with. When it comes to progressive conditions, the consultant can work with the Director on the practicalities of masking and revealing a condition to the audience. They also work with the Casting Director to identify roles suitable for incidental portrayal.
5. Production Advisor. If the production is more fluid and the script evolves as part of the filming process, then having a consultant on-hand to work with the creative team to help evaluate their ideas will give everyone greater confidence, opening up more creative possibility without losing authenticity.

Mat Fraser as Paul The Illustrated Seal in American Horror Story, Show Stoppers

Identifying Disability in a Script

When it comes to identifying disability in a script, try to look for disability characteristics and don’t expect the writer to be prescriptive, especially if the source material is more than 50 years old.
Characteristics signify if a character has a disability so try to cast as close as possible to scripted characteristics, but remember this is a creative process and sometimes the most important thing is the actors bring their lived experience as a disabled person to a role. This is something to discuss with a disability consultant as there are nuances to be worked through. Some transpositions don’t work, such as casting someone who doesn’t use sign language into a signing role, or a non-wheelchair user into a chair using role, or casting a neurodivergent actor as a physically disabled character.
Creatively it can look out of place to an audience, however there are instances where transposition is possible because the condition does not have to be literally portrayal. This can work for both literary and historical figures and there are many great examples. These include Peter Dinklage as Cyrano or the many actors who have played Richard III successfully with different conditions.

Identifying characteristics is something of an art especially for literary figures and scripts. The identity of “disabled”, didn’t come about until the 20th century, so do not rely on a writer providing specifics. In the Shakespearean canon there are about 25 disabled characters, and none are explicitly referred to as disabled, they simply have characteristics of conditions.

Apparent disability characteristics can include:

• Accessibility Aids: wheelchairs; walking sticks; crutches; white canes; hearing aids; cochlear implants, service animals; prosthetics; synthetic speech devices; stoma bag; mobility scooters; splints; ear defenders etc.
• Speech: Stuttering, non-verbal; ticcing; slurred speech.
• Communication: sign language user; lip-reading; illiteracy.
• Futuristic Body Augmentation: robotic limbs, movement aids, vision or hearing technologies, life support systems.
• Medical: seizures; meltdowns; incontinence; immuno-compromised.
• Mobility: The character’s ability to mobilise is impaired. They may need to use a mobility aid; not be able to walk unassisted; experience pain; ambulatory wheelchair users.
• Movement: spatial awareness; ticcing; stimming; spasms; tremors; limping; walking gait; shuffling; paralysis; balance; coordination; pain; fatigue; dyskinetic facial expressions.
• Physical Appearance: limb differences; surgery scars; height; stature; albinism; skeletal/muscular differences; Downs Syndrome.
• Sensory: visual impairment; Blind, Deaf, Deafblind.

Think about what the experience of the character would be in terms of prejudice, social isolation, attitudes, ableism, culture and experience of access to the physical world.

Arthur Hughes as Matthew Shardlake, in Disney’s Shardlake

Disability and Historical Accuracy

Disabled people could at times determine their role or standing in society themselves, with many from the merchant classes or aristocracy becoming scholars, teachers, entering the church, having roles at court as advisors, or fulfilling traditional court roles such as the Fool/Jester.

Fools across all historical productions should mostly be considered as disabled people, given it’s prevalence historically. The role of fools in courts was complex and included people with cognitive as well as physical disabilities.

In times of war, disease or famine it could be unusual for common people to be considered as having no impairment.
The merchant classes had the same issues with healthcare and workers also had little in the way of protection so physical injury was more commonplace.
Amongst the ruling classes impairments occurred because of disease, poor diets (too much unhealthy food or drink), STIs, inbreeding, hunting accidents, duelling or other sports, and poor healthcare with doctors not being able to fix everyday ailments, or prescribing treatments that did more harm than good.

Soldiers returning from war, where many characteristics could be attributed to battlefield injury or PTSD.

The Church was another safe place for many disabled people, especially those from more wealthy backgrounds who became monks, nuns or priests.

There are many pirates, buccaneers, explorers and other seamen in literature both historical such as Sir Walter Raleigh or Edward Teach, or fictional like Long John Silver or Captain Hook.
Regardless of whether scripted characters were real or not, life at sea was harsh and diseases such as scurvy or injuries from work, fighting or punishment were commonplace, and so the instances of apparent (visible) disability were very high. This is reflected in the characterisation of pirates in fiction such as Pew, which are closer to fact than fiction.

If historical accuracy is something being considered then impairments prior to the mid 20th century would be more commonplace, which is why mild to moderate conditions are never identified in texts and are instead treated as characteristics, which opens up possibilities in accurate incidental casting beyond where impairment is directly or indirectly signposted within the text.

Francesca Mills as Cherry Dorrington in the BBC’s Harlots

There are some example historical figures that should be cast authentically because they are part of disability identity and history. Disability was not documented because it wasn’t seen as an identity, however many instances of disability amongst the nobility were documented. The following is not an exhaustive list but it illustrates how disability should be understood when casting actors for historical figures.

Here are a few well known examples which should be cast authentically:

• Charles I of England, was unable to walk unaided until his seventh year, having inherited his father’s, “weak legs and ankles”. He has what can be considered as splints: a pair of reinforced boots was made for Charles by the London bone-setter, Edward Stuteville. He also had ‘macroglossia’, where his tongue was too large for his mouth affecting his ability to speak, eat and drink. In 1622 the Venetian ambassador remarked that the prince had, ‘some impediment through the size and length of his tongue which prevents him from expressing himself freely’.
• Emily Dickenson had epilepsy, visible facial differences and lifelong health conditions.
• Emperor Claudius, had cerebral palsy which impacted his mobility and speech, but not his wit nor his judgement.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a wheelchair user, he was paralyzed from the waist down and used a combination of a wheelchair and leg braces for mobility.
• Franz Kafka was plagued with mental health issues for his entire adult life and he had tuberculosis which impacted his mobility and physical capacity in his latter years.
• Frida Kahlo was born with spina bifida and as a young child had polio and before she was a teenager her spine was broken in a bus accident. She had severe physical motor disabilities, chronic pain and health issues, and eventually had multiple amputations.
• Florence Nightingale became disabled after returning home from the Crima after contracting a fever. She never fully recovered and was disabled for the rest of her life.
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec had a genetic bone disorder called pycnodysostosis, also known as Toulouse-Lautrec Syndrome or Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome, and his disabilities were compounded because of syphilis.
• Henri Matisse became disables later in life following surgery, which resulted in him becoming a wheelchair user.
• Henry VIII was disabled after the age of 44 because of a hunting accident and he used a number of mobility aids such as walking sticks, an early type of wheelchair and a hoist and pulley system for getting upstairs.
• Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson had multiple disabilities from war injuries which included having his right arm amputated, blindness in his right eye and a spinal injury.
• James I did not learn to walk until he was five, and at the age of eighteen he was still unsteady on his feet, ‘his gait is bad, composed of erratic steps’. By the time he ascended the English throne he often leaned on the man next to him. James’s legs may have been weakened in infancy by rickets. Alternatively, Frederick Holmes, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Kansas, has proposed that James suffered from an hereditary neuro-muscular disorder.
• John Milton had a progressive eye condition, probably glaucoma, which resulted in him losing his sight.
• King Richard III had scoliosis and his shakespearean character had more pronounced disabilities, so transposing his condition is in keeping with the messages in the play.
• Lord Byron had a clubbed foot with associated movement and mobility issues.
• Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury had scoliosis much like Richard III.
• Samuel Johnson was both vision and hearing impaired due to childhood illness and based on observations at the time it is now understood he had Tourette’s syndrome.
• Sir Walter Scott had polio as a child and as a result had mobility issues throughout his life.

Lauren Ridloff in HBO’s The Walking Dead

Top 10 Things To Be Mindful Of

It’s always advisable to learn from the previous success and mistakes, identify what went right or wrong, what should have been learned and what could be done differently.
This is the only part of the guidance that gives a few negative examples as it is important to learn from the past. This is not to pass judgement on those productions as advice was not available or known to be sought at the time. Some of these and other examples can be found in this IMBD article on The Creative Opportunity of Disability.

Hogwarts should have had 30 disabled children, but they were noticeable by their absence

1. Invisibility and Erasure.
   The thing to do is to avoid the Harry Potter effect. Roughly 11% of children are disabled, the majority of which are hidden disabilities but roughly 3% will be Deaf, vision impaired or have an apparent (visibl) or physical disability.
   If disabled children are at Howarts, there should have been on average 5 blind children, 4 Deaf children, 15 children using wheelchairs, frames, splints or other mobility aids, a couple of children of short stature and at least 1 child with downs syndrome. In the Wizarding World disability is present as there are disabled adults, but the children are noticeable by their absence. It might not seem like a big thing, but it does make you wonder if the underlying message is that disabled children are just not magical?
   This is not necessarily done with intent, but forgetting disabled children exist is not a great message.
2. Cripping-Up
   This is the act of giving disabled or neurodivergent roles to non-disabled Actors.
   There are hundreds of examples of productions with on-screen cripping-up and 22 of the 25 Academy Award winners that have played disabled leads have been non-disabled, but attitudes are changing and the practice is becoming seen as inappropriate.
   It still happens with many modern productions casting non-disabled actors, but public opinion is changing, so this could easily shorten shelf-life or lead to damaging publicity.
   Disability is always a story, both on screen and behind the camera.
   There have been attempts to mitigate negative press by giving minor roles to disabled actors to mask the lead disabled role going to a non-disabled actor, but this is an unacceptable practice. In simple terms, surrounding the act of cripping-up with disabled actors in different roles does not make it acceptable.
   A good example of the strength of feeling about cripping-up is the response to The Elephant Man which the BBC announced in 2019, where there was a backlash from the disabled community about the casting, and then the BBC added fuel to the fire by saying that supporting roles would be cast with disabled actors.
   If this mistake is made, consider re-casting the role.
3. Casting an actor with a non-apparent (hidden) disability in a role that has an apparent (visible) disability.
   This is an extension of cripping-up. There can be a miscomprehension that casting actors with hidden disabilities in visibly disabled roles can work or is acceptable. However, this is not an authentic approach much in the same way casting someone who does not use sign language in a role that signs never looks right to people who do.
   It also unnecessarily takes opportunity away from actors who have few other options because of the lack of incidental roles cast as visibly disabled.
4. Assuming that there are, “No Disabled Actors”.
   Disabled actors have been around since the 1940s, with names such as Esmond Knight and Lionel Barrymore having successful stage and screen careers from the 1940s to 1990s, but arguably until the late 1990s and early 2000s the available talent pool was small. Training mostly came from disabled led theatre companies or from other performance arts and comedy, but over the last couple of decades the available talent pool has grown to such an extent that drama schools are offering formal training to disabled students, and there are many disabled professionals available. There has been no truth in this statement and productions such as Come As You Are could have easily cast authentically and would have had a better story to tell as a result, but instead received a lot of criticism.
   Jim Sheridan, director of My Left Foot, has even said that he does “not think it’s right anymore” for “able-bodied” actors to play disabled characters, and today he would make very different casting decisions.
5. Portrayal of neurodivergence.
   Alluding to neurodivergence is yet another way of side-stepping authentic casting and saying that neurotypical actors are playing characters as “autistic-coded” is simply another form of cripping-up. If there is a role about neurodivergence, such as in the recent TV production Patience, then cast appropriately. This series has a character who is autistic and the production has benefitted from having Ella Maisy Purvis cast in a role where she brought her insight and experience to the production. In stark contrast the movie Music didn’t seek professional creative advice either in casting or portrayal and ended up with a characterisation of autism that was broadly considered both insulting and patronising, and as such Music received a lot of criticism.
   A excellent example of where scripting a character as neurodivergent, without diagnosing them in the story, and casting a neurodivergent actor is Vincent D-Onofrio as Wilson Fisk, AKA King Pin in Daredevil, Echo, Hawkeye and Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spiderman. No only was the writing well researched and thought through, but because the casting director fought for authentic casting, the actor brought insight, depth and truth to the role.
6. Presuming that progressive conditions can’t be portrayed by disabled actors.
   In 2014 despite his award-winning portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking the film The Theory of Everything, the casting of Eddie Redmayne came under scrutiny as to whether portraying someone with a progressive condition constituted “cripping-up”, as this raised questions and suggestions that included having two actors, or even using CGI. The practicalities were all theoretical until the BBC’s 2022 drama production Better, cast the disabled actor Zak Ford-Williams in a role where at first he masked his cerebral palsy, and then unmask it after his character Owen survives meningitis. Ford-Williams used his experience as a physically disabled actor who himself has had to learn to walk twice. This production demonstrated that it is possible for a disabled actor to successfully portray a progressive condition, and that this can be explored as part of the creative process.
7. Transposing a character’s disability can be an interesting choice. Disability can be complex because there are so many different conditions and characteristics so you don’t always have to be literal with interpretations. If the story is more about the experience of being a disabled person then transposing conditions or asking disabled actors to use their characteristics and breadth as a performer to portray conditions they share characteristics can be both acceptable and creatively interesting to explore. This is another reason why Creative Disability Consultants can be so useful.
   In Gregory Maguire’s novel Wicked, Nessarose is born without arms, but in the movie she is a wheelchair user. Nothing is necessarily lost in the screen interpretation because it was approached creatively and sensitively.
   This can also work when it comes to historical figures when their story of being a disabled person is more important than the accuracy of casting a condition.
8. Remember that disability does not define a character or their storyline.
   There are plenty of examples where the only thing a disabled character has is a storyline about disability. While this can be important and impactful, it is good to create disabled characters that have a life outside of their disability.
   Shardlake on Disney+, starring Arthur Hughes, introduces us to a lead disabled character were his disability and the attitudes of those around him add subtext. As Arthur said of Matthew Shardlake, “his disability is the least interesting thing about him.”
   Another example is Davros from Doctor Who, who has been one of The Doctor’s main adversaries since 1975. He is disabled as a wheelchair user, is blind and has one arm, but his disability story is fascinating as he has disabled himself as a means to creating the Daleks and has invented all of his assistive technologies such as an electronic eye, mobility chair (lower half of a Dalek), and he controls his environment from his chair. He is a genius and his disability does not prevent him from achieving his goals, only the Doctor does. Unfortunately he hasn’t been played by a disabled actor, yet.
9. Transposing modern disability into the past, or the future.
   Disabled people today have more access to therapy, surgery, medication and technology than in the past, and who knows where medicine and technology will go in the future?
   If this is a historical role and the aim is to be historically accurate then it is important that the actor plays the condition as it was, using technologies that were available at the time. Magnifiers, walking sticks, crutches, rudimentary wheelchairs, bath chairs, sedan chairs, hoists, ear trumpets, signing systems and more have been around for hundreds of years. After a hunting accident in his early 40s, Henry VIII was disabled and used walking sticks, an early type of wheelchair and hoists to help with his mobility.
   Thinking about how conditions would have presented is an important part of the research of the role, but there are degrees of accuracy that have to be considered. In the Channel 5 drama The Hardacres, the character Harry Hardacre has Cerebral Palsy. The actor had to imagine what it was like to have had his condition in the late Victorian era.
   There are degrees of accuracy and if the production is set in an alternate past, or has elements of supernatural or other imaginative contexts of storytelling, then there is more artistic licence. In the future or in fantasy then there is no limit to the possibilities. In Good Omens the actor Liz Carr played the angel Saraqael as a wheelchair user in heaven… why not? Another couple of examples are Geordie La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation who is blind but has a seeing device that enables him to see the world in ways sighted people don’t, and a final example is Imperator Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, who has a robot arm from a dystopian future.
10. Tokenism.
    This is all about commitment. If you are going to introduce disabled characters to the audience don’t just use them to help fill up the room.
    When disabled characters are wheeled on and off scenes it can come across as tokenism rather than actual inclusion.
    It is also a missed creative opportunity, so dive into the process, introduce the audience to disabled characters and have fun exploring their stories.
    When it comes to story telling, disability is anything but boring, and what the actors can say is equally interesting. When it comes to publicity there is another angle to look at. Ask the disabled actors to talk about their characters as they can have interesting perspectives.

Zak Ford-Williams as Lord Remington discusses the drawbacks of balloons flight with Lord Cho, played by Caleb Obediah, in Netflix’s Bridgerton

“By prioritising disability inclusion, organisations tap into unique skills, perspectives and talents of disabled people, building a more diverse, innovative and inclusive environment within our industry. Look at the word ‘creative’ in creative arts. We are perfectly placed to create environments in which to do our best work. The energy that the presence of disability creates within a production is a resource of creative potential… I feel amidst the advances being made embedding D/deaf, neurodivergent and disability equality within our industry, a disabled person on a stage or screen is still a political act. The presence of marginalised groups can bring about social and political change: the normalised presence of marginalised groups cements it. The rest is celebration.”
Zak Ford-Williams, Actor

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Links to useful resources

101 Great Examples of Disability Portrayal. Images that link to examples of best practice.

Advice for disabled actors from Zak Ford-Williams. If you are a disabled or neurodivergent actor setting out in your career, this is some useful advice.

BBC Creative Diversity Production Principles. A great starting point for thinking about the practicalities of access for disabled and neurodivergent talent both in front and behind the camera.

BBC Creative Diversity Inclusion hub. More excellent resources from the BBC on how to support disabled talent in a production.

BBC ‘Make Sure You Get It Right’ | Disability Representation In TV and Film. BBC Scotland invited 4 disabled people to discuss the representation of disability on TV and film. Aimee McCabe, Jessica Secmezsoy-Urquhart, Ross Wilcock and Julie McElroy talk about why representation matters, hiring disabled actors and getting the storyline right.

BBC The 5 As: our standards for disability inclusion. In order to ensure the full and equal inclusion of deaf, disabled and/or neurodivergent talent, both behind and in front of the camera, The TV Access Project (TAP) has produced a set of simple guidelines and principles which any organisation in the industry is welcome to adopt.

British and American Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent Actors. A large list of available and experienced talent on IMBD from both the UK and US.

Channel 4 Disability Welfare Guidance. A useful resource to be used as guidance only and is not a substitute for content creators carrying out their own access assessments and taking responsibility for access and inclusion for disabled people when filming and working with them.

Channel 4 Code of Portrayal (pdf). This code aims to ensure authentic, nuanced and original disability portrayal across all types of TV programming on Channel 4 and is a useful model for other TV channels and on-demand platforms.

Creative Diversity Network, Doubling Disability. Was a project which aimed to double the percentage of disabled people working in UK broadcasting. It was impactful and helped introduce a reporting framework.

Cripping-Up, what does it mean? The Wikipedia page on the subject that covers not only the definition, but it also explores characterisation and has a lot of useful links.

Cripping-Up in over 300 TV Dramas and Movies. Sometimes it’s good to learn from mistakes because if we don’t make them, how do we know they exist. If you want to see some negative examples this is a useful IMDB list.

Disability Portrayal, The Fails and the Wins. This isn’t just another list but also has explainers for why some projects got it right, and what other projects could have done better.

Equity Resources for Disability. The UK’s actors union has it’s own resources that reference the Equality Act.

Filmmakers With Disabilities Inclusion Toolkit. A Toolkit for Inclusion & Accessibility: Changing the Narrative of Disability in Documentary Film.

Hollywood Area resources from 1in4 Coalition. 1IN4 is an intersectional coalition of disabled creatives currently working in Hollywood focused on long-term institutional shifts to increase employment and authentic representation of disabled people. This is a very useful list of resources that can be found online or are local to the Bay Area.

IMDB List of Movies and TV Shows that cast Disabled Actors. This list celebrates moments when disabled actors were given opportunities to shine. If you are casting and want to see some performances, this is a great list of examples.

IMDB List of TV Dramas and Comedies where Disabled Characters are Played by Disabled Actors. As there is a list for cripping-up, there should also be a list for authentic portrayal.

MacTaggart Lecture: Jack Thorne. This keynote speech from neurodivergent writer Jack Thorne beautifully sets out the agenda for inclusion.

PACT Resources for Disability (Membership Required). If you are a member of this union, check out their resources on disability inclusion.

Rolling the boards : the interplay of representation and recruitment in disability casting in UK theatre and television Parrott, Jessica M. (2019). There is an interesting exploration of the relationship between the audience and the reality of disability, and this paper is where the phrase, “the cure of the curtain call,” originates from.

SAG-AFTRA Empowering Performers with Disabilities On Set.
“It is not what you are, it’s what you can play. Whether written on a breakdown, at an audition or on the job, the criteria should always be what your professional qualifications are and not what your personal identification might be”
SAG-AFTRA Equity & Inclusion Department Executive Director, Franklin Sablan

SAG-AFTRA Inclusion: Time To Get Real. SAG-AFTRA’s National Performers with Disabilities Committee launched a series of video vignettes that shine an entertaining light on some common stereotypes that performers with disabilities face in the entertainment industry.

Triple C, Contractual Commitments for Disabled Content Creators. A pick-and-mix set of commitments or core principles that disabled creatives can ask for to ensure they have creative control over portrayal and the whole production process through to transmission is inclusive and accessible.

Triple C, Guidelines for Inclusive Writer’s Rooms. A set of guidelines for making writers’ rooms inclusive to disabled, deaf and neurodivergent screenwriters. These guidelines have been produced by TripleC in partnership with TriForce Creative Network and the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain.

Triple C, HETV Production Training Videos. ITV Studios, BBC, and TripleC have partnered up to launch a series of easy to follow and accessible production training videos. The series is created by deaf, disabled, autistic and/or neurodivergent talent for budding technicians and creatives to learn more about production in high-end TV through the lens of The A Word spin-off Ralph & Katie, a series which set an industry benchmark for inclusive working at every stage.

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