Diane Lane in Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

Rachael Taylor and Dave Annable in 666 Park Avenue (2012)

The principle purpose of storytelling and characterisation 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. Creativity is all about interesting choices, and disability can be a very interesting choice for either a storyline or a character, regardless of whether disability is part of a storyline or an incidental device that adds depth and subtext. This is a list TV shows since the year 2000 that have represented disability in an authentic and compelling way. This could be part of a storyline, a way of adding sub plot through the attitudes of the other characters towards an individual, or if disability could simply be incidental to the story adding richness and authenticity to the characters. After all 20% of people have some sort of disability so it's interesting that they make up less than 0.2% of the characters in the drama we watch. Behind every disability there is a story, which makes the missed opportunity seem even greater. There are many examples where casting or portrayal have bordered on the offensive, and these are not included here. All the disabled characters in these shows have been played by disabled actors.

TV Dramas and Comedies Where Disabled Characters Are Played by Disabled Actors

The principle purpose of storytelling and characterisation 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. Creativity is all about interesting choices, and disability can be a very interesting choice for either a storyline or a character, regardless of whether disability is part of a storyline or an incidental device that adds depth and subtext. This list consists of stills from Films and TV shows since the year 2000 that have represented disability or neurodivergence in an authentic and compelling way. This could be part of a storyline, a way of adding sub plot through the attitudes of the other characters towards an individual, or if disability could simply be incidental to the story adding richness and authenticity to the characters. After all 20% of people have some sort of disability so it's interesting that they make up less than 0.2% of the characters in the drama we watch. Behind every disability there is a story, which makes the missed opportunity seem even greater. There are many examples where casting or portrayal have bordered on the offensive, either because a non-disabled actor has struggled with empathising with lived experience, or because unimaginative casting decisions, or the writing has not been properly researched, falling back on tropes or cliches rather than seeing disability as a creative opportunity. Despite all this there are a relatively few examples where disability has been woven into the production, adding depth to both characters and stories, although with many of these there is still tokenism gone right because of the high standard of the actors' performances. If you are a writer, casting director, producer or director, use this list of shows as examples of both best practices, interesting approaches and examples of the possibilities that disabled talent can bring to disabled and non-disabled characters. Remember that just because disability isn't spelled out in a script it doesn't mean that it cannot be present. Disability can be a very interesting and creative choice. It's not a box to tick for a minor character in a scene or two that helps diversity statistics, but an opportunity for interesting storytelling.

There are more good examples out there, but there are also some notable absences especially where the character is a non-disabled actor (Daredevil on Netflix or Come As You Are, 2019), or there is cripping-up plus the storyline is deeply offensive (Me Before You, 2016), there is a mixture of disabled and non disabled actors playing disabled roles where the non-disabled actors get all the good ones (See, Apple TV) or the show runners also decide to "fix" a disability trope by removing the disability from the much loved disabled character Davros (Doctor Who, 2024), but then redeeming themselves a bit by casting two disabled actors in supporting roles.

One last sobering thought is that over the last 25 years, on average only 8 productions a year (0.4%) in the combined UK and US TV, On Demand and Film industries include well thought through disability portrayal, the majority of which are support roles. This equates to roughly 0.15% of all the characters on screen, which is a long way off a representative figure and just shows the attitudes and biases in the industry.

Here are some other disability stats and facts:

0.3% of all actors have a visible disability.

Neurodivergence is a lot more common in the industry with many famous actors talking openly about their conditions. Ableism in the industry is more directed towards actors with physical disabilities.

Visibly disabled actors have not been able to access formal training. Up until the last few years drama schools have actively excluded them, in the words of one school in The Stage in 2019, "why train people the industry does not want."

0.15% of all roles in drama and moves are written as disabled.

In the last 50 years over 80% of all disabled characters have been cast with non-disabled actors, and apart from one exception all disabled roles that have been Academy Award winners were played by non-disabled actors.

Less than 0.01% of mainstream roles are cast with a disabled actor, despite a study in 2019 showing that over 98% of all roles could be cast as disabled. Very few roles could not be performed by someone with either a vision, hearing or physical disability. 

TV Dramas and Movies that Cast Visibly Disabled Actors

Andrew Lincoln in The Walking Dead (2010)

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