|
BREAKING THE CODE
Kitty Lunn 1998
Whether opportunity is denied because
of one's skin color, one's gender, one's age or because of one's
disability, the effect is the same -- it is the denial of the
opportunity. I happen to be concerned with the Performing Arts and
with increasing employment opportunities for performing artists with
disabilities, but this principal of equal opportunity is true for
all types of employment situations.
Since July 26, 1990, we've all been hopeful that the passage and
implementation of the Americans With Disabilities Act would begin to
tear down some of the more traditional barriers. However, those of
us who are disabled also know that attitudes are indeed the real
disabilities and, therefor remain our greatest challenges. What we
are asking for with the ADA is not a new idea -- -- especially in
the not-for-profit area. We asked for it and achieved it with The
Rehabilitation Act Of 1973. What we are looking for now, is
enforcement of the law.
Recipients of grants from organizations such as, The National
Endowment For The Arts, as well as State arts organizations, should
be familiar with Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act Of 1973. The
ADA extends accessibility provisions to the private sector in an
effort to guarantee persons with disabilities the right to inclusion
in the economic and cultural mainstreams open to other Americans.
Because of an accident nearly a decade ago, I am a paraplegic. While
preparing for my first Broadway show, I slipped on ice, fell down a
flight of stairs and broke my back. My life was changed profoundly
that evening, but it didn't stop. Instead of performing on Broadway,
however, I spent the next two and a half years going in and out of
hospitals. During this time the students at Gallaudet University
gave birth to the rise of Deaf Power, and the Disability Rights
Movement was changed forever. At that moment, it became a Civil
Rights Movement.
This was especially significant for me, because I was a newly spinal
cord injured person, desperately trying to rebuild my life from the
new perspective of a wheelchair. Even though, in my heart I knew
that I was the same person, people treated me differently. I became
"other". I hated it! From my hospital bed, I could identify with the
student's frustration and anger at being treated like dependent
children simply because they were in some ways -- -- different.
Although I didn't know anything about Deaf Culture or ASL, in fact I
had never even known a Deaf person, just knowing that these students
at Gallaudet had gone out and reclaimed their lives, inspired me to
do the same. After four spinal surgeries and a great deal of
rehabilitation, both physical and emotional, I was able to resume my
career as both an actor and a dancer. My husband, Andrew, has been
an unfailing source of strength, and we were married in December of
1989.
Through a friend I learned that Actors Equity Association had a
committee for actors with disabilities. I was quite surprised to
learn that there really were professional actors out there who were
disabled and were working!
I was terrified. I wanted to get back into an acting class. I still
didn't know if I was going to be able, in reality, to do any of this
in my new " condition". I went back to a class I had been working
with before the accident. Instantly I knew I was doing the right
thing. I have learned that my ability has nothing to do with my
disability or the fact that I now use a wheelchair. My soul and my
talent don't know that I fell down those stairs and broke my back.
The dancer inside me doesn't know or care that I use a wheelchair.
A new chapter in my life began. I began to be concerned, not only
with my own goals, but in opening new vistas for other performing
artists with disabilities. I was very fortunate to have had
excellent training and opportunities to perform prior to becoming
disabled. I discovered, however, that many of my new peers were not
so fortunate. Training programs are not very accessible and most
careers in the performing arts are still viewed as inappropriate for
people with disabilities.
The Performers With Disabilities Committee was founded in 1979 to
address the needs and concerns of this under represented often
overlooked community of professional actors with disabilities. The
founders recognized the need to organize performers with
disabilities who wished to be judged for their abilities rather than
their disabilities. This Tri- Union Committee includes members from
all three of the professional acting unions: Actors Equity
Association, The Screen Actors Guild & The American Federation Of
Television And Radio Artists. It is dedicated to increasing
employment opportunities for professional actors who are disabled
and ready to seek gainful employment in the entertainment industry.
To this and, the PWD holds audition showcases to highlight the
talents of its members and invites casting directors, agents and
other industry professionals to attend. In addition, the Committee
office maintains an active file of photos and resumes of qualified
performers with disabilities as a resource to assist casting
directors and others in decision-making positions.
I'm not suggesting that it's been easy. It hasn't. In reality, there
isn't a great deal of work offered to actors who are disabled. Even
with the success of television shows like Reasonable Doubts and Life
Goes On, most of the time when a character with a disability is
portrayed on the stage, in film, or on television, more often than
not, the role is played by a non-disabled actor. Not only that, but
in most cases, actors with disabilities were never considered or
auditioned.
Literature has found characters with disabilities fascinating for
centuries. Actors love these roles because of their creative colors
and textures. More often than not, however, when it comes to casting
these roles, those in the decision making positions find it
difficult to imagine that an actor with a disability could
contribute to the creative process. Think about it. In the last few
years alone, there have been many major motion pictures dealing with
a central theme of disability and having a leading character who is
disabled in one way or another: Rainman, Passion Fish, Scent Of A
Woman, Calendar Girl, Awakenings, My Left Foot, What's Eating
Gilbert Grape, etc..
Frequently I'm asked, "Aren't these films making the issue of
disability more visible? Aren't they raising peoples sensitivity to
the issue?". After careful consideration, I've concluded that having
non-disabled actors portray characters with disabilities has not
increased sensitivity. It serves to create the myth that "this only
happens in the movies, this is not part of real life". But it does
something much more harmful. It serves to perpetuate the
misconception that people with disabilities must continue to rely
upon the non-disabled community to speak on our behalf, because we
cannot speak for ourselves. Some might argue that this isn't
important. Some would say that what is important is that the role be
played with dignity. How can there be any dignity in a process that
is steeped in exclusion and discrimination?
Four hundred years ago women weren't allowed to appear on the stage,
so William Shakespeare had young boys playing the female roles.
Fifty years ago, Ava Gardner put dark makeup on her face and played
an African-American women in the film Showboat. Black- face is no
longer acceptable -- -- thank God! The film Cocoon celebrated senior
citizens in their golden years, and real, honest-to-goodness senior
actors played those roles. Why should the disability be viewed as a
technical acting problem to be solved in the rehearsal process? Why
should an actor with a disability be excluded from consideration for
a role that portrays the very disability that the actor has? Where
is the logic in this?
The year after I joined the PWD Committee, I was asked to run for
the Council of Actors Equity. I was very flattered, but knew it
would be a long shot to get myself elected. The Council had never
had a member who used a wheelchair, and in fact, Actors' Equity
didn't even have an accessible bathroom! (insert story about first
audition after accident)
I knew it would be quiet a challenge, but somehow I did manage to
get elected and am now the chairperson of The Performers With
Disability Committee for Actors' Equity Association. God Help Them!
I knew the first thing we had to do was bring the union to a greater
understanding of exactly what equal employment opportunity means to
an actor with a disability. Since so few of the theaters, sound
stages, or television studios in New York City, or the country for
that matter, are accessible to the professional performing artist
with a disability, we certainly had a strenuous path before us.
Thus began a year long, often heated, often ugly struggle to gain an
equal place for actors with disabilities within the union. I knew
that we would never be able to get the theatrical industry to take
us seriously if our union treated us as invisible. I'm not
suggesting that an actor with a disability be hired simply because
he or she has a disability. What I am suggesting, however, is that
simply because an actor has a disability, it shouldn't be used as an
excuse not to hire that actor. Once at a PWD meeting, a casting
director was asked whether or not he would consider bringing in
actors with disabilities to read for a disabled specific part. He
said that if he were seeing both non-disabled actors and actors with
disabilities for the same role, the disabled actors would have to be
so much better than the non-disabled actors to be seriously
considered. Of course, in the next breath he also said that this had
nothing to do with discrimination, he just wanted the best actor!
What we really want is to be given equal and fair consideration in
the audition process. But, we also realize that as long as theaters
and other venues of employment remain inaccessible, we will not have
the equal employment opportunity guaranteed by law. Once a prominent
casting director in Los Angeles told my agent that she wouldn't see
me for a disabled specific role because she "couldn't take an
actress in a wheelchair seriously".
It doesn't matter what the form, discrimination is the enemy and we
must all work together to eliminate it. The key here is to work
together. We must stop segregating people into "special
populations", no matter how well meaning it may appear to be.
We must take care not to segregate ourselves, either. When our needs
and goals differ, as they surely will from time to time since our
disabilities are different, we must take special care that we don't
end up working against each other. We must strive to understand our
differences, so we don't unintentionally hurt each other. Deaf
people must work with others who have disabilities as members of the
disability community. We are all the perfect expression of God's
love exactly as we are. We don't need to spend our lives in search
of a "cure". Within our various disabilities, we are whole,
complete, competent individuals. We are proud of our identities as
deaf people, blind people, and wheelchair users, etc.. We are proud
of our common identity as People With Disabilities! I truly believe
that together we can all make a difference. To exclude anyone from
the Arts simply because they are in some way different -- diminishes
us all.
I enlisted the help of the Department of Justice to help me prepare
the case to take before the Equity Council. I knew we would need the
courage to see the matter all the way into the courts if it came to
that. Sometimes I found this new "public" role very lonely and
depressing business. But, persistence is the only remedy.
To make a long story short, the following spring we were successful
in getting Actors' Equity to amend its policy on non-traditional
casting to include performers with disabilities and seniors. This
policy change was a significant breakthrough for actors with
disabilities. Non-traditional casting was conceived to create a more
representative slice of the American scene. In order to achieve
this, persons with disabilities and seniors must be included in that
scene. This policy change opens up new possibilities for casting
talented performers who have been overlooked in the past and
hopefully will encourage producers, directors and casting people to
consider actors for roles which they may not have considered them
before. To this end, Actors's Equity has been successful in
bargaining into each contract rule book, language protecting the
rights of performers with disabilities. For example, auditions must
now be held in architecturally accessible facilities. Audition
material must be made available in advance, upon request, for blind
and visually impaired actors. When deaf performers are sought,
certified and/or qualified sign language interpreters must be
provided during the audition and throughout the engagement.
Is it so difficult to conceived that an actor with a disability
could play a role where the presence or absence of a disability does
not affect the storyline or the character's development? Several
years ago I had the opportunity to play Dr. Martha Livingston in
John Pielmeier's acclaimed drama, Agnes Of God. We didn't change one
word of the text or amend one stage direction in order to
accommodate my wheelchair. During the intermission of one
performance, a friend overheard two ladies discussing the play. "I
don't think Jane Fonda used a wheelchair in the movie! I don't think
you have to use a wheelchair to do this part"! One of the audio
describers was sitting in on a rehearsal one afternoon so she could
make notes of the performance, since she would be describing the
play the next evening. Since she had been unable to get a
baby-sitter, she brought her six year old daughter to the theater to
watch the rehearsal. Now Agnes Of God isn't exactly material for a
six year old, and her mother told us that she had lots of questions
about the play as they drove home later that afternoon. One of the
things the little girl wanted to know was why the lady in the play
was in a wheelchair. She wanted to know if that part was real, or
just pretend for the play. Her mother explained that the actress
used a wheelchair because she couldn't walk in real life. Without
batting an eyelash, the little girl said, "I get it mommy! The moral
to this story is that even if you use a wheelchair, you could still
grow up to be a psychiatrist! That's exactly the point, isn't it? If
the relationships are working on stage, what possible difference
does it make if someone is using a wheelchair or American Sign
Language. I am very grateful to all those concerned for allowing me
to play Martha Livingston and demonstrate my abilities rather than
my disability.
My hope for the future is to see programs instituted in high-school
and college level drama departments that will encourage students
with disabilities to mainstream and participate. One of the biggest
problems facing artists with disabilities is the "medical model".
The non-disabled world mandates that "it can't be drama, it must be
drama therapy. It can't be dance, it must be dance therapy", etc.!
They keep putting us back in the hospital or rehab centers. Or they
create "special programs" for us -- the other! Training for the
Arts, like anything else, takes time and discipline as well as
talent. I am certainly not suggesting that every deaf child is going
to grow up to become Marlie Matlin or Phyllis Frelich, nor is every
child with Downs Syndrome going to grow up and star in his own
television series like Chris Burke. But, you know what? Not every
blue-eyed, blonde child is going to grow up to come Meryl Streep
either. It takes years of hard work and commitment and, of course,
lots of luck to succeed in the Arts. But maybe when artists with
disabilities begin to be graduated from such esteemed institutions
as the Yale Drama School, Julliard, New York University Tisch School
Of The Arts, Mason Gross School Of The Arts at Rutgers, and Carnegie
Mellon, casting directors will begin to take us seriously. We're
looking for the same dignity and consideration as anyone else in the
employment arena.
In November of 1994, Ifounded Infinity Dance Theatre, a
non-tradition dance company committed to bringing the joy and drama
of motion and movement to a new level of inclusion for dancers with
and without disabilities. I have developed a wheelchair dance
technique based on classical ballet and modern dance. Infinity Dance
Theater is committed to professional artistic excellence through
mainstream publicconcerts, lecture demonstrations, workshops, and
inclusive dance classes for children with disabilities in the public
school system. ( Show Infinity Video Tape Here)
When I'm dancing in my little custom-made, manual wheelchair --
speaking of assistive technology, and how technology can open doors!
-- the chair becomes an object of motion and movement that has
nothing, whatsoever, to do with a medical accommodation.
Recently, Jacques d-Amboise invited me to join his faculty at the
National Dance Institute. (Tell Jacques Story) I have the pleasure
of teaching fourteen beautiful children who use wheelchairs how to
dance. Last week these wonderful children were included in the
National Dance Institute's big end-of-the-year event in Central
Park. This was the first time ever, that children with physical
disabilities have been included in this remarkable program. My kids
were there, on stage, with the nearly 2000 other New York City
public school kids involved in the program, doing the same dance in
their wheelchairs! It was fabulous! My youngest student, Cree, she's
eight years old and uses a wheelchair due to Osteogenesis Imperfecta.
She wants to become a ballerina. I aim to make sure she gets that
opportunity!
Let me share my Sesame St. Story with you. (Tell Story -- segue into
video)
All things considered, I wish I'd never fallen down those stairs.
Who knows what would've happened if I'd done that Broadway show? Not
too long ago, while I was dancing in Brussels, Belgium, the press
wanted to know what I was trying to accomplish with all this dancing
stuff! I thought about it for a moment and said "I want to command
the same amount of respect sitting down that I did standing up"!
People make assumptions about people with disabilities without
taking the time to see the person. They see us simply as our medical
accommodations. But the truth is, I am not a wheelchair! I use a
wheelchair -- there's a difference. I'm disabled due to a spinal
cord injury. But, I'm "handicapped" by societal attitudes towards my
disability. Thanks to assistive technology, People with disabilities
are sort of like Visa Cards -- We're Everywhere Everyone Else Wants
To Be! This includes becoming professional performing artists.
Each new day brings another opportunity to try again to put into
practice what I've learned the day before. Those students at
Gallaudet University showed me the way. They taught me to be a
pioneer. Pioneers must have the courage to go where there are no
paths and leave a trail behind for others to follow. There can be no
turning back. We must all do what we can, simply because we can.
Then and only then, will we truly be free.
|
