By David-Elijah Nahmod
Four television shows and one feature film have been honored with the “Seal of Authentic Representation” from the Ruderman Family Foundation. Established in Boston in 2002, the Ruderman Family Foundation works toward the inclusion of people with disabilities in society. The Foundation’s Seal of Authentic Representation recognizes films and television shows that have demonstrated a commitment to the full inclusion of people with disabilities in popular culture. This is particularly important as so many productions have cast actors without disabilities in roles that portray disability.
Disability in Film: The Honorees
This marks the fourth time the Ruderman Family Foundation has bestowed the Seal. The current group of honorees are:
See, a science fiction drama produced by Apple TV+. The series is set in the distant future at a time when the human race has lost the sense of sight and society must find new ways to interact and survive. See has cast Marilee Talkington and Bree Klauser, both of whom are legally blind.
This Is Us, NBC’s comedy/drama about a set of triplets, their parents and the family’s struggles, has cast Blake Stadnik, an actor who lives with Stargardt Disease, a form of macular degeneration. Stadnik plays Jack Damon, a character who lives with retinopathy of prematurity, a disease of the eyes which can cause blindness.
Atypical, a coming-of-age series produced for Netflix, tells the story of 18-year-old Sam Gardner, who has autism spectrum disorder. The show has cast three actors with autism: Dominique Brown, Layla Weiner and Spencer Harte.
Also produced for Netflix, The Politician earns kudos for casting Ryan J. Haddad, an actor who lives with cerebral palsy, as Andrew Cashman, a character with cerebral palsy.
And finally, the feature film Spare Room, a romantic drama, co-stars Cole Sibus, an actor with Down Syndrome who plays a character with the same disability.
Advocating for Actors with Disabilities
The actors couldn’t be more pleased with their jobs.
“I am grateful to the Ruderman Family Foundation for its steadfast commitment to disability inclusion in entertainment, and I thank the Foundation for recognizing The Politician with its Seal of Authentic Representation,” said Ryan J. Haddad in a statement. “Series creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan set out to populate the world of their satirical high school with a variety of voices without calling attention to it in the scripts. It’s been a privilege for me to inhabit their story and their words. This kind of disability inclusion is refreshing, truthful and necessary. We exist in the world, we can be part of any story, and those stories need not be laser focused on our disabilities in order for us to play meaningful roles.”
“It is incredibly important for the entertainment industry to authentically cast characters with disabilities,” added Blake Stadnik. “Not only does it deservingly give work to some of the most talented actors I know, but it also influences the audience’s perception of disability as a whole. Personally, it would have been beyond meaningful to me to see a person with low vision play a character like Jack when I was growing up. I am honored to possibly be that for someone now, and I am so proud to be part of a show that wants to authentically represent everyone’s story.”
Disability Advocate: The Ruderman Family Foundation
The Ruderman Family Foundation conducted a study in 2016 that found that only 5% of characters with disabilities on television were played by actors with disabilities. In February 2020, the Foundation released a new study that showed that the number of disabled characters played by actors with disabilities has risen to 22%.
For more information on the Ruderman Family Foundation, please visit https://rudermanfoundation.org.
Photo: Jason Momoa and Hera Hilmar in See. Photo courtesy of Apple TV+.