[Missouri-l] No Glee For Disabled:

[Nancy Lynn]

No Glee for disabled performers; Casting non-disabled actor as Artie on hit
show disappoints both talent and advocates

Lynn Elber
The Toronto Star , Nov. 11, 2009

Graphic: In this week's episode of Glee, the characters try life in a
wheelchair to gain empathy for classmate Artie.Actor Kevin McHale, who is
not disabled, plays Artie, a character who uses a wheelchair on Glee.

The glee club members twirl their wheelchairs to the tune of "Proud Mary"
and in joyful solidarity with Artie, the fellow performer who must use his
chair even when the music stops.

The scene in Wednesday's episode of the hit Fox series Glee, which regularly
celebrates diversity and the underdog, is yet another uplifting moment -
except to those in the entertainment industry with disabilities and their
advocates.

For them, the casting of a non-disabled actor to play the paraplegic high
school student is another blown chance to hire a performer who truly fits
the role.

"I think there's a fear of litigation, that a person with disabilities might
slow a production down, fear that viewers might be uncomfortable," said
Robert David Hall, longtime cast member of CBS's CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation.

All of that is nonsense, said Hall: "I've made my living as an actor for 30
years and I walk on two artificial legs."

Hall, 61, chair of a multi-union committee for performers with disabilities,
is part of a small band of such steadily working actors on TV that includes
Daryl (Chill) Mitchell, star of Fox's Brothers; teenager RJ Mitte of AMC's
Breaking Bad; and ABC's Private Practice newcomer Michael Patrick Thornton.

Veteran actress Geri Jewell, who has cerebral palsy, appeared on HBO's now-
departed Deadwood.

Mitchell, 44, whose credits included Veronica's Closet and the film Galaxy
Quest before he was injured in a motorcycle accident, and Ed after he began
using a wheelchair, is also a producer on Brothers, which is in need of
higher ratings if it is to survive.

For Mitchell, Brothers represents more than just another show: he calls it
"a movement" that deserves support from the wider disabled community as well
as the industry.

"This is what my life is. This is what I want the world to see," he said. "I
want to hold the networks accountable. If I can come out and do what I'm
doing, they can come to the table."

It's not just TV that falls short of what Mitchell and others seek,
including auditioning those with disabilities for roles that echo their
situation and in which it is irrelevant. (Then it's up to them to prove they
deserve the job, Hall said.)

Increasingly, television has been expected to reflect society in whole and
not just the so-called mainstream. That was the intent in assembling the
cast of Glee, said executive producer Brad Falchuk, along with getting the
best performers possible.

"We brought in anyone: white, black, Asian, in a wheelchair," he said. "It
was very hard to find people who could really sing, really act and have that
charisma you need on TV."

He understands the concern and frustration expressed by the disabled
community, he said. But Kevin McHale, 21, who plays Artie, excels as an
actor and singer and "it's hard to say no to someone that talented," Falchuk
said.

Glee isn't alone in using an able-bodied actor for a wheelchair role: Curb
Your Enthusiasm did it twice in a recent episode.

More than a third of performers with disabilities reported facing
discrimination in the workplace, either being refused an audition or not
being cast for a role because of their disability, a U.S. study found.

Performers fear being candid about their health or needs to avoid pity or
being seen as incapable of doing a job.

"There are very talented performers with disabilities.... We just don't know
what producers are thinking," said Gloria Castaneda, program director of the
Media Access Office, a California state program that promotes hiring of the
disabled in the entertainment industry.

TV's past, oddly enough, was brighter. In the 1980s, actors with
disabilities could be seen regularly in a variety of shows. They included
Jewell, who costarred on Facts of Life, and James Stacy, who played a love
interest for Sharon Gless on Cagney&Lacey and appeared in Wiseguy after
losing limbs in a motorcycle crash.

More is at stake than actors' careers, say advocates. "When a person with a
disability sees a positive image on TV that looks like them, their whole
attitude changes. It gives them hope for what they can do in the future,"
said Castaneda.