Media and Disability Resources

The following are resources and discussion about portrayal of disability in the media.


Guide To Cable Providers And Streaming Services For People With Disabilities
Written on: June 04, 2021


Let Actors with Disabilities Play Characters with Disabilities
By: Leonard Davis, The Huffington Post, December 7, 2009
There are an increasing number of actors with disabilities who have trouble getting parts and for whom these major roles would be a great opportunity. According to a recent article in The Hollywood Reporter, out of a total of 600 characters on television shows in a given season, only 12 will have a disability. And of those, most will be played by non-disabled actors. A third of disabled actors have faced active discrimination by being denied auditions or not being cast in a role because of their disability.


The Ruderman White Paper on Employment of Actors with Disabilities in Television 
By: The Ruderman Foundation, 2016
One of the goals of the Ruderman Family Foundation is to change the public’s awareness of people with disabilities. The Ruderman Foundation researched this White Paper in order to further the awareness around this civil rights movement. They believe that the results that they found will meaningfully contribute to the conversation of diversity in entertainment as a civil rights issue that needs to be addressed more systematically by the media and entertainment industry.