TV Shows and Movies Featuring Actors with Disabilities
Looking for something to watch while quarantined? According to the Ruderman Family Foundation, people with disabilities make up 20% of the population, but less than 1% of TV characters and only 5% of those characters are actually played by those with disabilities. Check out this list of TV shows and movies that feature an actor with a disability.
The Peanut Butter Falcon
The Peanut Butter Falcon is a modern Mark Twain style adventure movie that tells the story of Zak, a young man with Down syndrome, who runs away from a residential nursing home to follow his dream of attending the professional wrestling school of his idol, The Salt Water Redneck.
Stumptown
Stumptown follows Dex Parios–a strong, assertive and sharp-witted veteran with a complicated love life, gambling debt and a brother to take care of in Portland, Oregon. Ansel, her brother with Down Syndrome, works at the local bar and Her military intelligence skills make her a great PI, but her unapologetic style puts her in the firing line of hardcore criminals and not quite in alliance with the police.
Stranger Things
When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one strange little girl. Gaten Matarazzo, who plays Dustin in the show, has cleidocranial dysplasia.
Fargo
Fargo is a crime drama anthology with each season focusing on a new plot. Fargo's first season featured Russell Harvard, a deaf actor who played the character of Mr. Wrench. He communicated with his accomplice through sign language.
A Quiet Place
A Quiet Place is a 2018 film that focuses on a family trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world where extraterrestrials are drawn to the sounds you make. Actress Millicent Simmonds is deaf and communicates through American Sign Language.
Everything's Gonna Be OK
The show focuses on older brother, Nicholas, and his two teenage half-sisters navigating life after their father's death. Nicholas moves in and begins raising his teenage sisters. Kayla Cromer, who plays Matilda, is on the autism spectrum.
Speechless
Although not on the air anymore, which we are sad about, Speechless is still a great show. It features mom, Maya, who will do anything for her husband, Jimmy, and kids Ray, Dylan, and JJ, her son with cerebral palsy.