Everyone loves a good story, and the story starts with you.
You can change the way the world defines and views disability just by including more people with disabilities on screen. A recent USC study noted that of the top 900 films between 2007 and 2016, just 2.7% of characters were portrayed as having a disability. And yet, 20% of Americans have a disability, representing a market potential of more than $200 billion annually.
Easterseals Disability Film Challenge Founder and Easterseals Southern California Board Member Nic Novicki speaks at Variety's Night in the Writers' Room
Easterseals encourages all writers to:
1. Include at least one writer with a disability in your writers' room. If you are having trouble finding qualified writers, Easterseals can help.
2. Make it commonplace to have people with disabilities as characters in your scripts - write in at least one character with a disability and tell us about it. Disability is simply a characteristic, no different than the color of their hair, or gender, or any other aspect of being human.
And showrunners - instruct your casting directors to include people with disabilities in crowd scenes!
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