There is (it's about time) a Netflix series - a comedy/ rom-com/ drama about a young man with CP written by same man, Ryan (forgot last name) - who plays the lead role - it's called "Special". I highly recommended it. It's semi-autobiographical. He does a great job - he's naturally funny, and real - and he's an amateur actor, maybe even a brand new actor. It's a short season, easy to "binge" through. I hope there's another season. It was pretty groundbreaking for a couple of reasons. He's a gay man with a disability - both in RL and onscreen.I get what you are saying, but I think the situation is a bit different from what @Kimmio Laughterlove is talking about.
We have disabled actors working their butts off in minor roles or theatre while major disabled roles like the male lead in Me Before You (the movie Kimmio is talking about) go to "name" actors with no disability.
I mean, deaf person Marlee Matlin got an Oscar for Children of a Lesser God and that was probably one of the first times a disabled character in a major movie was played by an actor with that disability. And, in spite of her win, things have not improved much.
It's similar to the whitewashing problem. There are plenty of good Asian actors in Hollywood yet, when they went to adapt the Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell, the lead went to Scarlett Johansson, who is a terrific actor, but pretty hard to pass off as Asian. And then they added insult to injury by talking about making her look more Asian.
And Scarlett raised hackles again by accepting a role as a transgender character in Rub and Tug. Again, there are plenty of trans actors trying to make a living, some of whom are becoming fairly well-known. Why not let one of them have the job? To her credit, Scarlett stepped down in this case.
And I would love to see trans actors playing cis characters or a disabled actor getting a part that wasn't written to be disabled. But right now, Hollywood won't even cast them in the roles they should be naturals for, so let's get over that hump first.
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