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Posted 06.15.10
Putting the Accent on Ability (Los Angeles Daily News)
Talent may ride in wheelchairs, need prosthetics

By Neil Parmar

Before filming his scene in "A Beautiful Mind," Ed Jupp rolled up his sleeves, brushed lint off his vest and straightened his tie.

"And action!" shouted the director, Ron Howard.

Jupp turned on his motorized scooter, locked eyes with Russell Crowe and zoomed onto set. But Jupp wasn't entirely acting. He suffers from spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy that paralyzed his legs and left him in a wheelchair shortly after he was cast in the 1989 Tom Cruise blockbuster, "Born on the Fourth of July."

Jupp is now part of an actor's union committee that lobbies for equal employment opportunities in the entertainment industry. But what committee members sometimes fail to realize is that there's a lot more to working in film and television for disabled actors than simply ensuring production sets are wheelchair accessible. That's why Jupp recently started his own organization, known as the Performers with Disabilities Task Force. He urges directors and writers to create new roles that transcend your typical "I Am Sam" or "Radio" kind of story "about some cripple trying to be courageous," Jupp scoffed.

"Once audiences see performers with disabilities in action-an amputee driving a cab, a paraplegic shopping in a mall or a court reporter who's blind-then one day, maybe, we'll be able to tell our own story and star in it," he said.

Fortunately for Jupp that time for change has come.

Recently CBS held a special showcase in Hollywood exclusively for performers with disabilities. More than 400 disabled actors from around the country had auditioned for a spot in the network's showcase, hoping to be cast in future television programming. Sixteen made the final cut and performed at a CBS soundstage in front of 200 Hollywood insiders, including Leslie Moonves, the company's president and chief executive, and casting directors for all of the network's day-time and prime-time shows.

"Nobody noticed their disability when they performed," said Fern Orenstein, vice president of casting for CBS. "They're actors and it was amazing how simple the stage logistics were. It really showed everyone that hiring actors with disabilities is not a big deal."

Eight actors from the showcase were cast in a new CBS pilot, and offers for other performers will likely be made when shows return from hiatus and begin production in August. ABC is following suit and working to establish smaller, regional showcases for disabled actors to be held in various cities throughout the country.

What's more, prime-time television is already in the midst of transforming how characters with disabilities are portrayed on the small screen.

Michael J. Fox, who announced his Parkinson's disease at the height of his show, "Spin City," returned to television in February and guest starred as an obsessive compulsive surgeon on back-to-back episodes of "Scrubs."

Christopher Reeve proved that kryptonite still remains the only threat to his career after rebounding professionally from physical paralysis and appearing in an episode of "Smallville" last year. He gave the Superman-inspired teen drama one of its highest ratings in the show's three-year history and reprised his role on April 14.

Then there's Robert David Hall, a double amputee who plays a quirky coroner on "CSI." And deaf actress Deanne Bray from "Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye," a drama inspired by the true story of a deaf woman originally hired by the FBI to analyze fingerprints but later tapped for surveillance work because of her unique ability to read lips.

Despite recent progress for disabled actors, "performers with disabilities are far underrepresented in all areas of the entertainment industry," according to Don Richards, associate national director of affirmative action and diversity at the Screen Actors Guild. More than 54 million Americans have a disability, he said.

"Law & Order," in which Jupp has appeared twice, is among shows that have won awards for diverse casting. But producers for other programs have rightfully taken flak for casting able-bodied actors over equally qualified disabled performers.

Laura Innes, for example, was given an arm-crutch for her role as Dr. Kerry Weaver in "ER." She won the part over Chris Templeton, who previously starred in "Hill Street Blues" and used a cane in real life because of childhood polio.

The Screen Actors Guild since requested that television networks provide disabled actors with equal audition opportunities whenever a disability is represented on the small screen. Yet some directors and producers disregard union policies since lesser known disabled performers who complain risk being further ostracized in an industry where their presence is still, at best, peripheral.

Offering screenwriters new and creative ways for incorporating characters with disabilities into story arcs is one way to create new roles, "because writers are the ones who have the power to create parts for people with disabilities," says Lisa Scarola, former New York president of the Screen Actors Guild.

What kinds of ideas? Picture an amputee cab driver shifting gears in a hand-operated car as Donald Trump's rejects are kicked off "The Apprentice 2." How about a paraplegic scaling the floors of a shopping center in a stair-climbing wheelchair in the finale of "The OC"? Perhaps a subtler role, like a blind court reporter with a Braillewriter in next year's spin-off to "The Practice."

Hiring talent to work behind-the-scenes in Hollywood is another way of infiltrating mainstream consciousness. Two years ago, Jupp held a meeting for screenwriters and directors in New York City and showcased the latest gadgets in assistive technology used by people with disabilities. The Hollywood crowd took its time but grew to love the idea.

On March 18, "CSI" regular Hall hosted a similar event in Los Angeles that brought together hi-tech gurus and Hollywood producers, directors and screenwriters. The newest line of assistive technology was unveiled, including The Eyegaze System, a thin computer-like screen that could help physically disabled special effects technicians use their eyes to guide a computer mouse. And there was a computer-writing program that offers a "word prediction" option that screenwriters with learning disabilities could use when they need help completing script lines.

Of course, Jupp' already has realized that Hollywood's technological neophytes might prefer basic information to transformative ideas. A few years ago, he attended a meeting hosted by the Directors Guild of America and distributed a pamphlet titled, "Everything production needs to know when performers with disabilities are hired." It included a list of agencies that directors and production assistants could contact to find out how to accommodate disabled performers who required wheelchair accessibility on sets, interpreters between scenes, Braille scripts or communication assistants.

Directors hailed Jupp's efforts, and a few--including Ron Howard, who so far has cast Jupp in three of his films--even hired disabled performers. "Simple-yet effective advocacy," said Scarola, who featured Jupp's pamphlet as an employer's guide on the Screen Actors Guild Web site when she was still president of the New York City branch.

Through the hard effort of activists like Jupp--and the sheer talent of disabled actors like those who auditioned at CBS last week--one more cultural barrier may soon be coming down in Hollywood.

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For a collection of more recent works, please visit www.neilparmar.ca

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