With 'Speechless' canceled, no broadcast TV series prominently features a disabled actor. Why representation in Hollywood matters
After canceling the ABC comedy "Speechless" after three seasons, the network's entertainment head Karey Burke said this week that it was "not without great, great, gut-wrenching consideration that we ultimately made that call," adding that "there was a lot of anguish for me and all of us at ABC."
It's a statement that leaves the same weird aftertaste as the recent explanation from Netflix when it canceled "One Day at a Time," one of the very few TV series created by and centering on Latinx stories.
Similarly, "Speechless" was the rare network comedy starring a disabled actor - Micah Fowler - playing a disabled character, a droll high schooler named JJ. The show's absence on the schedule next year is a loss not only because it was so smart and funny, but also because there aren't any current or new series on the broadcast schedule that prominently feature a disabled actor.
Only 2% of characters this past TV season had disabilities (including "invisible" disabilities such as depression, anxiety, cancer, epilepsy, diabetes and autism). That's 18 regularly appearing characters out of 857 - and
