Archive for November 22nd, 2008
Hire Education: Three Unions Launch Campaign for Disabled Performers
 |
||||
|
||||
Although 20 percent of Americans—56 million people—between the ages of 5 and 64 are living with a disability, they are represented by less than 2 percent of characters on TV.
To increase the visibility and equal employment opportunities for performers with disabilities, three unions—Screen Actors (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and Actors’ Equity (Equity)—have launched the I AM PWD (Inclusion in the Arts & Media of People With Disabilities) campaign. Over the next three years, the I AM PWD campaign will reach out to the entertainment and media industries, the general public, political and legislative leaders and to national and global civil rights, labor and community allies in an effort to urge the entertainment industry to open up equal opportunities for disabled performers.
Actor Robert David Hall, national chair of the Tri-Union Performers with Disabilities Committee, says:
I’m fortunate to have a good career as an actor and creative artist. The normal struggles any performer faces, however, are complicated 10-fold by our industry’s reluctance to include people with disabilities in the full landscape of entertainment.
