Heather Langenkamp in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Creativity is about making interesting choices, and Disability is always an interesting story. So far there have been 22 Oscar nominations and 9 non-disabled actors have won, playing visibly disabled roles. A non-disabled actor playing a visibly disabled person, especially where that character has a story related to their condition, is called "cripping-up." This is increasingly being recognised and called out as inappropriate and bad practice, especially because the industry is more than reluctant to cast disabled actors in roles where there is no disability storyline. Ableism in this sense runs deep in the the creative industries.

There are many examples where a disabled actor has successfully brought the truth and authenticity of their lived experience to a role, and there are many examples where non-disabled actors have failed because they have not been able to get under the skin of the experience of being disabled, especially visible disabilities. This is a list of movies that could be re-made with authentic casting with actors who may not have the same condition, but understand the truth of a disability lived experience. These performances can be more authentic instead of cripping-up which often, but not always, resulting in an impersonation of, rather than an embodiment of disability. Admittedly some of these would need a bit of a re-write, but if any of these are remade they would benefit from authentic disability casting. There are enough professionally trained and experienced disabled actors for that to no longer be an excuse (see my other lists.)

In this list I have focused on lifelong conditions which are not hidden disabilities, as well as illness or trauma that have resulted in physical disability.

Here are some statistics about disability casting from the industry:

0.3% of all actors have a visible disability. 

Neurodivergence is a lot more common in the industry with many famous actors talking openly about their conditions. Ableism in the industry is more directed towards actors with physical disabilities.

Visibly disabled actors have not been able to access formal training. Up until the last few years drama schools have actively excluded them, in the words of one school in The Stage in 2019, "why train people the industry does not want."

0.15% of all roles in drama and moves are written as disabled.

In the last 50 years over 80% of all disabled characters have been cast with non-disabled actors, and apart from one exception all disabled roles that have been Academy Award winners or nominations were played by non-disabled actors.

Less than 0.01% of mainstream roles are cast with a disabled actor, despite a study in 2019 showing that over 98% of all roles could be cast as disabled. Very few roles could not be performed by someone with either a vision, hearing or physical disability.

Cripping-up in Films and TV Dramas. Which is Where Non-Visibly Disabled Actors Played Visibly Disabled Roles.

Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart in The Upside (2017)

Mel Gibson, Don Johnson, Vince Vaughn, Tory Kittles, Thomas Kretschmann, Michael Jai White, Jennifer Carpenter, and Justine Warrington in Dragged Across Concrete (2018)

Elizabeth Kaitan in Splatter University (1984)

(Some of the) Movies I have seen and rated. 

Lists Related to Remember Me

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