On social media or TV, you probably have seen stories of a disabled person being celebrated at their High School prom, or being named an honorary member of their Football team. While these stories may seem harmless on the surface, these stories fall under the trope of “inspiration porn.”

What Is Inspiration Porn?

Inspiration Porn is used to describe the objectification of disabled people with the intention of making people without disabilities feel good. The term was made popular by Stella Young, a disabled comedian and activist, in her TED talk titled “I’m Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much.” Young explained that society has been sold the lie that having a disability is a bad thing, so simply living with a disability makes someone exceptional. The media tends to glorify disabled people for existing and praise non-disabled people for helping disabled people. These superficial narratives have detrimental effects on the representation and perception of disabled people in society. [continue reading…]

As the fall semester of college wraps up, many fraternities and sororities are already starting to make plans for next semester’s Greek life recruitment. Greek letter organizations usually have a set idea of the type of people they would like to extend a bid or formal offer to become a member to. But does that fixed idea of the perfect member come with an ableist mindset?

In 2018, talks of the lack of disability inclusion in Greek life made major headlines when Ann Catherine Heigl, a George Mason University student who has Down Syndrome, was rejected from every sorority. From what the articles described about Heigl, she appeared to have several qualities that sororities look for. She was a varsity cheerleader, involved in the community, and had strong academic performance. Many students with disabilities have a similar story to Heigl’s. They are quickly judged and dismissed before they even have a chance to show who they are, just because they have a disability. [continue reading…]

The new animated Disney movie WISH is opening today in theaters nationwide. The film centers on Asha, a 17-year-old who stands for an injustice in her kingdom. Asha’s best friend Dahlia is a disabled teen, yet the film does not go into details about her disability.

Instead, viewers see Dahlia having an important job – running the palace bakery and leading six other teenage characters who work with her in the palace – and playing an integral role in helping Asha – and their entire friend group – succeed in their mission.

Jennifer Kumiyama

Dahlia is not defined by her cerebrovascular disease, subtly indicated by her crutch and gait. Jennifer Kumiyama was authentically cast for the role Dahlia. [continue reading…]

Star ASL interpreters dazzle again in the second season of Amazon Music Live (AML), a weekly concert series hosted by award-winning rapper 2 Chainz and broadcast live from Los Angeles on Prime Video after Thursday Night Football (9:00 p.m. PT | 12:00 a.m. ET). Artists like Kane Brown, Ed Sheeran, and Asap Rocky have graced the AML stage alongside specially selected Amber G Productions interpreters and performers including Justina Miles, Martise Colston, and Matthew Maxey.

While these performances are typically on Thursdays from Los Angeles, this week, due to Thanksgiving, AML will air on Nov. 24 at 7:00 p.m. ET / 4:00 p.m. PT this week, on Prime Video and Twitch, following the Miami Dolphins – New York Jets game. Garth Brooks is slated to headline, livestreamed from the grand opening of his new downtown Nashville Bar, Friends in Low Places Bar & Honky-Tonk. Brooks will be performing new music live for the first time. [continue reading…]

Read the report

After numerous disability organizations including RespectAbility and FWD-Doc lobbied for disability inclusion, the 2023 UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report is tracking the disability status of actors for the first time.

“Recently, a few of the data sources used for this report have begun to collect information about disability,” the report states. “As more than one source on actor disability status became available as recently as December 2022, we were able to move forward with collecting and reporting on these data for the first time in this year’s report.”

The report’s end notes mention that one of these sources is Nielsen-owned Gracenote, which began tracking on-screen disability representation as part of its inclusion data in late 2022, with the assistance of RespectAbility. “We were honored to provide input to Nielsen’s Gracenote leading to new metrics indicating progress on representation of disabled talent on screen,” RespectAbility’s SVP Lauren Appelbaum was quoted in Variety in December 2022. “Being able to measure the gap in representation of disability is a powerful capability that equips the media industry to act and invest in representative content and disabled talent. We hope tracking representation will lead to an increase over time.” [continue reading…]

In a Western society that often shies away from death, Project CC’s creative and bright exploration of grief and impermanence is refreshing. Directed by RespectAbility Entertainment Lab alumna Cashmere Jasmine, this Disney Launchpad short film tells the story of a 12-year-old science genius, Paris, who attempts to clone her best friend CC. Paris does so in fear of rejection from the other kids for her brains and her bigger body.

In the short film, after CC dies of an illness, Paris wastes no time in activating her bedroom closet laboratory to transform CC’s remains into a clone. The experiment goes awry when Paris accidentally clones her dog, Jerome, setting loose dozens of corgis. When Paris and her sister Portia finally wrangle in the corgi clones, they realize that Jerome is missing. In the heartfelt emotional climax of the short, Portia points out to Paris that just like Paris knew that none of the corgi clones were Jerome, a clone of CC wouldn’t be the real CC. [continue reading…]

Don’t question yourself when you feel the need to fully realize your ninja skills and join a secret neighborhood fight club. It’s the thing to do now-a-days, especially after watching Disney’s Launchpad BLACK BELTS, a short about a Compton teenager quietly pursuing his father’s footsteps by learning how to use a secret and powerful form of street fighting.

“What I want people to take away from the film, is a sense of family rebuilding, fun, and enjoying watching film again,” said BLACK BELTS writer Xavier Stiles, who also served as a faculty advisor for the RespectAbility Entertainment Lab. Stiles is a Compton, California native, and a person with diabetes. [continue reading…]

Voting is an essential right of American citizenship that people with disabilities are too often prevented from exercising. Current voting barriers include transportation to polling sites, inaccessible buildings, cumbersome registration processes, lack of election worker training on the accessibility features of voting machines, and lack of voter privacy.

RespectAbility Senior Policy Advisor Matan Koch, who is a wheelchair user, uses mail-in voting since his transportation options are limited and polling places are often inaccessible. Senior Director of Policy Stacy Cervenka, who is blind, uses in-person voting with an accessible voting machine due to privacy concerns with needing someone to read and fill out print mail-in ballots. RespectAbility Faith and Inclusion Fellow Hannah Roussell, who is immune-compromised and has ADHD, votes via absentee ballot and wishes the registration process was streamlined. [continue reading…]

According to the US Census Bureau, there are approximately 56.7 million Americans with disabilities. Despite this large number of consumers and users of technology, many modern digital technologies remain inaccessible.

According to the Coalition of Organizations on Accessible Technology (COAT), under current federal law, only a small percentage of video programming must include audio descriptions for users who are blind or low-vision. Many people with disabilities face barriers in the workplace due to video conferencing services that lack necessary accessibility features such as closed captioning and compatibility with screen reading software. Audio descriptions and closed captioning on television sets are not easy to access and activate. Deaf people who communicate in American Sign Language (ASL) face accessibility barriers to emergency services. [continue reading…]