According to the 2023 UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report Presents: Streaming Television,14.3% of lead actors in the top streaming shows (live-action, scripted comedy, and drama series) in 2023 have a known disability. However, this statistic does not tell the whole story. Disability Belongs™ adds important context: the majority of these actors have nonapparent disabilities, meaning their disabilities are not immediately visible or visible to others at all.
The report also found that only 8.2% of co-lead actors in these shows have a known disability—a smaller share than lead actors. In comparison, 26% of adults in the U.S. identify as having a disability, underscoring the significant underrepresentation of disabled actors in these roles.
The UCLA report states that:
“Disability status was collected using Gracenote’s Studio System and Luminate Film & TV (formerly Variety Insight), which both note disability status that has been stated publicly. Types of disability that are tracked include the following: hearing, intellectual/developmental, mental health, neurodiverse, physical, visual, and non-specified.”
Nonapparent Disabilities in Representation
It is crucial to note that most of the actors identified as disabled in the UCLA report have nonapparent disabilities, such as mental health diagnoses or neurodivergence like autism or ADHD. While authentic representation of disabilities is important, many disabilities are not outwardly visible, and the roles being portrayed may not even emphasize the disability. This often results in the disability community being overlooked or seemingly erased in media depictions. The disability community includes a wide spectrum of experiences and identities, and media representation must reflect this diversity comprehensively.
Gracenote’s Studio System began tracking on-screen disability representation as part of its inclusion data in late 2022, with input from Disability Belongs™. As Lauren Appelbaum, SVP of Disability Belongs™, noted in a December 2022 Variety interview:
“We were honored to provide input to Nielsen’s Gracenote leading to new metrics indicating progress on the representation of disabled talent on screen. Being able to measure the gap in the 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.”
Looking Toward the Future
While the UCLA report offers valuable data on disabled lead and co-lead actors, it does not yet track disability representation in other critical areas of production, such as creators. Although the report includes data on gender and race among creators and viewers, disability status is absent from these metrics. This is a significant gap, as no major production company or studio currently publicly tracks disability status among employees or crew members.
In addition, while the report highlights various genres, including women-centered, LGBTQ, Black, Asian, Latinx, and Indigenous stories, it lacks a category for Disabled stories. Households with disabled family members are also notably absent from the viewership section.
Disability cuts across all demographics and often interests with other identities. According to the U.S. Census, 20 million U.S. households have at least one disabled family member. Furthermore, the American Institutes for Research reports that disabled individuals contribute $21 billion in discretionary income to the U.S. economy each year. This demonstrates the importance of understanding what disabled households are watching and why the entertainment industry should incorporate disability into its content and audience research.
A Call for Comprehensive Representation
Disability Belongs™ commends the UCLA team for taking a vital first step by incorporating disability data into its report utilizing Gracenote’s Studio System and Luminate Film & TV data. However, this is just the beginning. It is essential to expand the disability lens across all diversity studies. Disability Belongs™ urges researchers to ensure disability is consistently and comprehensively included in future diversity studies.
Authentic representation of disabled actors—whether they portray characters with disabilities or not—does not happen by accident. What we see on screen influences real-world attitudes, making it imperative for productions to actively include individuals with disabilities in diverse, nuanced roles.
Achieving authenticity representation also requires hiring disabled talent across all areas of production, including key roles behind the camera. Disability Belongs™ is working to close this gap through its Entertainment Lab, which already has supported 228 alumni and current Fellows in securing positions at studios and in writers’ rooms.
Disability Belongs™ calls for all representation studies to include disability data for both on-screen talent and behind-the-scenes creatives. This comprehensive approach will foster more authentic representation and help dismantle the stigmas and misconceptions that currently exist about people with disabilities.
