Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1530033
Videos Highlight Talent of Performers With Disabilities T he Performers With Disabilities Committee debuted a new video series during National Disability Employment Awareness Month in October. Created by Jason T. Gaffney, Angel Giuffria, Thea Touchton, Jack Patterson and Nicole Cyrille, Inclusion: Time to Get Real is a series of five videos featuring performers with disabilities that offer a light approach to a serious subject. At the series' official launch on Oct. 15, its first three vignettes were exhibited to the media, with the remaining videos released later in the month. The videos are an effort to not only remind the entertainment industry of the value and extraordinary talent that performers with disabilities provide, but also to challenge limiting misconceptions about the roles that are "appropriate" for them. The vignettes are available on SAG-AFTRA's website at sagaftra.org/timetogetreal and were posted to Instagram, Facebook, X and the SAG-AFTRA YouTube channel. All videos are available with and without Audio Description in both English and Spanish, with dubbing provided by SAG-AFTRA's National Latino Committee. "People with disabilities are America's largest minority, representing nearly 26% of the nation's population. Yet disabled performers are not afforded equal opportunities in entertainment and media and remain among the least represented in the industry," said SAG-AFTRA National Performers with Disabilities Committee Chair Christine Bruno. "National Disability Employment Awareness Month not only celebrates the work of performers with disabilities, it is an opportunity to call attention to inaccurate, inauthentic portrayals of disability and the lived experience of disability." People with disabilities represent a major financial market. In North America and Europe alone, the total disposable income of persons with disabilities is $2.6 trillion. When you include the friends and family of people with disabilities, that figure jumps to $18.3 trillion. These are all people who want to support productions that include performers with disabilities. It is an untapped market that shouldn't be. Scan here to watch the Inclusion: Time to Get Real series of videos. A behind-the-scenes look at the Inclusion: Time to Get Real vignette Can't Do What? featuring Jason George, Angel Giuffria and Brian Dietzen. For Members