Hollywood Inclusion

Credit: Santiago Felipe/Getty Images

Washington, D.C., June 2 – Billy Porter has had a long history of breaking boundaries. He came out at 16 years old in the middle of the AIDS crisis. His Tony-winning stint as Lola in Kinky Boots confronted stigmas around femininity. And his role as Pray Tell on Pose made him the first openly gay Black man to win any lead acting category at the Primetime Emmy Awards. But Porter is not finished breaking boundaries quite yet.

[continue reading…]

Amara (Sophie Kim), Noah (Jace Chapman) and Simon (Mauricio Lara)

Los Angeles, CA, June 1 – Sophie Jaewon Kim is a 14-year-old actress who can be seen on Netflix’s The Healing Powers of Dude. Kim represents a new generation of disabled actors who are indelibly transforming the entertainment industry. Kim is doing more than just wowing audiences with her acting breakthrough—she is leading the way for both Asian American and disabled performers everywhere.

Recently, Kim participated in a RespectAbility virtual event celebrating the representation and inclusion of disabled AANHPI (Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders) in media. In this panel, Kim answered questions regarding the state and future of diversity in the entertainment industry. Kim discussed the messages of support she’s received from fans, both disabled and nondisabled. [continue reading…]

Sponsors include A+E Networks, Final Draft, The Harnisch Foundation, NBCUniversal, Murray/Reese Foundation, Pop Culture Collaborative, Sony Pictures Entertainment, ViacomCBS and The Walt Disney Company

Los Angeles, California – RespectAbility, a nonprofit focused on fighting stigmas of people with disabilities in media and advocating for more authentic representation, is proud to announce that following unprecedented competition from around the world, 30 individuals have been accepted into RespectAbility’s third annual Lab for Entertainment Professionals with Disabilities. The Lab brings authentic and diverse portrayals of people with disabilities to the screen by creating a pipeline of diverse professionals with disabilities behind the camera. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, CA, May 27 – Making history as the first Deaf or hard of hearing contestant on ABC’s iconic dating series, The Bachelor, Abigail Heringer has pioneered a new direction of diverse production in authentic and intersectional entertainment. The representative progress that has been made for AAPI television personalities and people with disabilities on-screen is largely separate and extraneous. However, Heringer celebrates her multidimensional identity by educating others and welcoming a new age of inclusive conversation.

In RespectAbility’s recent event titled, “Celebrating Representation and Inclusion of Disabled AAPI in Media,” a virtual panel hosted by diversity advocate and entertainment thought leader, Vanni Le, Heringer offered her nuanced narrative. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, CA, May 27 – Depression is a silent epidemic in America: according to the community-based nonprofit, Mental Health America, 13% of youth battle depressive episodes. MTV’s new investigative documentary on mental illness, Each and Every Day, offers powerful visibility to the survivors behind these statistics. Though nonvisible disabilities often can be overlooked in media, MTV is using their production platform to authentically shed light on the many ways depression affects the youth of America across every demographic. Each and Every Day is a must-watch to have a better understanding of the disparities that exist when people attempt to get help in managing their mental health conditions.

[continue reading…]

Los Angeles, May 20 – Everyone has different motivators in life. Some people are motivated by passion, some money, others necessity. For Shaina Ghuraya, her motivation is her white-hot rage. It’s that same rage that unintentionally drove Shaina to become a filmmaker. As a Punjabi woman in a wheelchair, Shaina describes herself as a triple threat, and it’s within that intersectionality that Shaina found her voice as a filmmaker.

Shaina’s foray into directing started with a spite piece she made while in undergrad at The University of Sacramento. Fed up with how inaccessible the university was, Shaina made a documentary exposing the university for its lack of accessibility. In making that film, Shaina saw the importance of her voice and her perspective. [continue reading…]

Largest cross-sector effort to shift from mental health awareness to mental health action organized in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing trauma of systemic racism

Learn more at www.MentalHealthActionDay.org

Los Angeles, May 20 – Today the disability advancement nonprofit RespectAbility and more than 1,300 organizations, brands, government agencies and cultural leaders will participate in the inaugural Mental Health Action Day to drive the conversation from mental health awareness to mental health action. Convened by MTV Entertainment Group, Mental Health Action Day is an open-source movement, aimed at motivating people to take action to get mental health support — whether for themselves, their loved ones or for everyone by advocating for systemic changes for mental health access and equity. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, May 19 – Steve Lee is a Chinese standup comedian, writer, actor, and producer with Amyoplasia Congenita Disruptive Sequence. Amyoplasia congenita is the most common type of arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC), and mainly refers to disorders with limb involvement.

Originally from Hong Kong, Lee came to America when he was 17 as an exchange student. He jokes that he was placed in the most diverse state in America: Kansas. Lee was the only student of color in his high school. In a short film for the 2020 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, Lee remembers it was a teacher in Kansas that made him realize he was the one labeling himself as a person with a disability. He wasn’t as different as society in America and Hong Kong wanted him to believe. [continue reading…]

Los Angeles, CA, May 16 – DGA Award-winning director Andrew Reid was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. Reid lived in Jamaica until the age of 10, and then moved to the United States, where he went on to graduate from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

At the age of 21, while on vacation in Cancun, Mexico, Reid became paralyzed from the chest down. A malformation of his blood vessels (AVM) resulted in a rupture, which compressed his spine while he was sleeping, leaving him completely paralyzed. He was told by doctors he would never walk again, although he eventually did regain movement, and currently walks with the assistance of a cane.

During his time at the hospital, Reid completed his first film project. He went around the hospital and recorded interviews with other patients and compiled the footage into a chronicle of the institution. [continue reading…]