RespectAbility hosted a conversation with the talent behind the making of Dahlia, a disabled character from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ most recent film, Wish. In Wish, a young girl named Asha wishes on a star and gets a more direct answer than she bargained for when a trouble-making star comes down from the sky to join her. Asha is joined by an ensemble led by her best friend, Dahlia, the best baker in town who also happens to use a crutch.
Moderated by RespectAbility’s Lauren Appelbaum, this panel included several key individuals involved with the production of Wish, including story artist Tom Caulfield, producer Juan Pablo Reyes, consultants Erica Mones and Maddy Ullman, and the voice of Dahlia herself, Jennifer Kumiyama. They discussed the making and development of Dahlia’s character, ensuring authenticity in disability representation, and why intersectional representation matters.
Disney’s Wish is now available on digital and Blu-Ray, and will be streaming on Disney+ on April 3.
Speaker Bios
Jennifer Kumiyama (Actress, Voice of Dahlia) was born with Arthrogryposis and uses a wheelchair daily. Kumiyama earned a spot on Warner Bros. reality TV show “Popstars 2” and earned national accolades from many publications including Variety Magazine and TV Guide – referring to her as “the girl in the wheelchair, who’s voice blew everyone out of the water”. Shortly after that in 2002 – Jennifer was cast in Disney’s “Aladdin; a Musical Spectacular” at Disney California Adventure Theme Park, where she is the first performer in a wheelchair to ever be on any Disney stage in the world. She performed 4 times a day for 8,000 guests a day, who visit from every corner of the world. It was at Disney that Jennifer took on her real role as an advocate for people living with disabilities – showing the entire world that talent sees no boundaries. This motivated her to become a speaker – sharing her story with schools, social groups, and major businesses. Her new passion, in addition to singing – is being a voice for people living with disabilities by breaking attitudinal and architectural barriers. “Aladdin; a Musical Spectacular” closed on January 10, 2016.
In 2010, Jennifer was crowned Ms. Wheelchair California and Ms. Wheelchair America 2011, 1st Runner Up. During her reign she spread the message of hope through her platform “Empowering Children with Disabilities to Make Their Own Dreams Come True”.
Jennifer was cast in a major role as ‘Carmen’ in Sundance Film Festival hit and Academy Award Nominated film “The Sessions,” MTV’s teen sensation “Awkward” and “Celebrity Undercover Boss.”
Since the closing of ‘Aladdin,’ Jennifer worked for former Long Beach Councilwoman, Senator Lena Gonzalez, former Long Beach Mayor, and now Congressman Dr. Robert Garcia. Jennifer is currently the City of Long Beach’s Citywide ADA Coordinator.
Tom Caulfield (Story Artist) is a Daytime Emmy award-winner, recognized for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for his work on “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure”, in which he also served as an episodic director for the series. Caulfield grew up in Dublin, Ireland and studied animation at Ballyfermot College of Further Education.
His extensive career in animation also spans across character design for television series, and animation for several beloved direct-to-video films, including “The Lion King 1 ½” “Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch” and “Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers.” He joined Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2022 as a story artist, being one of the first to put visualizations to the script and story of a film. As a person with a disability, he brings his life experience and perspective to animation, including the character of Dahlia, Asha’s closest friend, in “Wish.” He remarked, “From a person with disability perspective. I know how dear to everyone’s hearts Disney is; to know thousands of people will see this movie and see a person of disability represented on the screen is emotional to me.”
Juan Pablo Reyes Lancaster Jones (Producer) has been working in creative development at Walt Disney Animation Studios since 2018, and has served as a senior creative development executive working on a variety of feature films, shorts and animated content for theatrical, streaming, television and other media. For the recent Disney Animation features “Strange World” and “Encanto,” he helped shepherd the films from their earliest stages of development, working with the filmmakers to find and develop the stories while also providing cultural support and writing the Art of Strange World and Art of Encanto books.
Prior to joining Disney Animation, he worked in creative development for Amazon Studios over a two-year period, where he helped to develop several animated series including “Costume Quest,” “Niko and the Sword of Light” and “Little Big Awesome.” He also was involved in the development of live-action drama shows for Latin America originals.
Born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, Reyes always wanted to work in the arts and storytelling, and remembers being influenced by his childhood viewings of such Disney Animation classics as “Beauty and the Beast” and “Sleeping Beauty.” After graduating with a BS degree from Tecnologico de Monterey, he worked for several years in corporate engineering and ran a contemporary art magazine before deciding to pursue his dreams in the entertainment industry. He went on to study film and television production and received his Master of Fine Arts degree in 2015 from the University of Southern California’s prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program (where he focused on creative producing and development, while also producing several live-action and animated short films).
Reyes has been an active volunteer over the years in such organizations as LatinX in Animation/Latino Film Institute, and is a leader for Disney’s LatinX Affinity Group.
Erica Mones (Cultural Story Trust Consultant) (she/her) is a writer and disability advocate. She has been writing since she learned the alphabet, and has been screenwriting since high school. Much of her work spotlights complex disabled people navigating an ableist world. She earned a bachelor’s in writing and classical civilizations from Loyola University Maryland and a master’s in disability studies from CUNY School of Professional Studies. She has consulted on multiple productions including Disney’s Wish, and has experience as a production intern in NYC.
Maddy Ullman (Cultural Story Trust Consultant) is a writer, photographer, and storyteller based in Dallas, TX. Adopted from Hong Kong to America, her experience as a Chinese adoptee with cerebral palsy propels her storytelling working in Hollywood. With her deep love of story and collaborative spirit, Maddy is dedicated to raising authentic portrayal of disabilities in Hollywood. Find her work @themaddyullman.
Lauren Appelbaum (Cultural Story Trust Consultant and Moderator) (she/her) is the Senior Vice President, Entertainment & News Media, at RespectAbility, a diverse, disability-led nonprofit that works to create systemic change in how society views and values people with disabilities, and that advances policies and practices that empower disabled people to have a better future. Drawing upon her background in broadcast journalism and as an individual with an acquired nonapparent disability – Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy – she works at the intersection of disability, employment, and the entertainment industry. A big part of Appelbaum’s work is to increase hiring initiatives of people with disabilities behind the camera and to enrich the pool of disabled talent in Hollywood by connecting them to those who can assist with their careers, both on the creative and business sides of the industry. Appelbaum works with A&E, Amazon MGM Studios, Bunim-Murray Productions, DreamWorks Animation, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Paramount, PBS, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Discovery, among others. This work helps increase diverse and authentic representation of disabled people on screen, leading to systemic change in how society views and values disabled individuals.
