Disability as Creative Opportunity: Rethinking Casting in TV & Film

When disability is central to a character’s identity, casting an authentically disabled actor isn’t just a moral choice — it’s a creative one.
Gareth Ford Williams’ “Best Practice Guidance for Disability Portrayal and Creative Casting in TV Dramas and Movies” (Medium, April 2025) delivers a vital roadmap for storytellers, spotlighting how authentic casting deepens narratives, honors lived experience, and boosts audience connection.
This is a summary of the key points raised in that article.

A Long-Standing Gap Between Values and Practice

Iconic studios such as Disney (Marvel) and Warner Bros. (DC) publicly champion inclusive storytelling. Yet the default remains “cripping‑up” — casting non-disabled actors in disabled roles. For example amongst the 66 disabled characters that appear in DC and Marvel comics that have appeared in the cinematic universes, but only 8 have ever been authentically cast with disabled actors. Some of those characters have been played by multiple actors, and non-disabled actors have filled over 90% of the disability castings.

Savannah Welch is an amputee in real life so even though she is not a wheelchair user she understands physical disability as a lived experience.

Why Cripping‑Up Fails Creatively

Authentic disability brings depth and nuance. When disability is erased or superficially portrayed:

• Origin stories flatten: Barrier-overcoming arcs lose power as the audience know there is a cure at the curtain call.
• Disability becomes metaphorically thin: Stories shrink from rich exploration to tokenistic mentions.
• Ableist attitudes go unexamined: True prejudice rarely gets addressed, losing potential for meaningful drama .

Models of Authentic Casting Success

Just a handful of recent projects demonstrate how powering authenticity enriches storytelling:

• Alaqua Cox as Echo: A Deaf actor in a Deaf role.
• Sophie Woolley & Zak Ford‑Williams in Bridgerton: Incidental disability that broadens representation, although these characters are yet to be developed and integrated into the storyline.
• Arthur Hughes as Shardlake (Disney) and Marissa Bode in Wicked: Bringing physical disability to life with lived insight.

These successes align with the principle that disability should be informed from within, not imposed.

The Four Creative Paths Forward

• Keep disability central: Don’t remove it — stories lose richness without authentic experience.
• Recast when needed: Shift to authentic actors, even for existing characters.
• Build new roles around disability: Use storytelling to introduce fresh, disabled characters and grow their narrative.
• Treat disability as creative, not contractual: It’s not a diversity target — it’s character texture, it’s backstory and it’s subtext.

How Production Teams Can Embed This Guidance

• Get Advice: Hire a disability consultant early on, and involve them at key touch points throughout the creative process. Make sure you define the role of a consultant using this criteria.
• Writers’ rooms: If possible get disabled writing talent involved.
• Casting: Avoid being overly specific about disabilities to expand candidate pools. Focus on the actor’s lived experiences rather than their specific conditions to avoid bias. Consider resources like ProFile Performers to identify talent.
• Advertising & Promotion: Celebrate authentically disabled talent — true stories deepen audience resonance. Let the talent help tell the story of the production.

Industry Momentum and Standards

Momentum is building. Calls to end cripping‑up emerged from Jack Thorne’s MacTaggart Lecture in 2021 and BAFTA; Netflix, BBC, and Channel 4 are enhancing their disability inclusion pipelines. Meanwhile, The Oscars’ new inclusion criteria now encourage — but don’t require — representation of disabled talent.

Answering the Critics

Some argue inclusion limits casting freedom or risks tokenism. But:

• Research shows audiences welcome authentic disability — iconic state-of-mind shifts come from genuine representation.
• The talent is there: dozens of professional disabled actors have proven their skill on stage and screen.

Conclusion: Disability Is Not a Limitation — It’s a Creative Asset

Disability offers storytelling richness: otherness, barriers, resilience, and nuance. Authentic casting honors these attributes and deepens audience engagement, and if studios truly mean what their brand values declare, implementing this guidance is not only possible — it’s essential.

Let’s shift from cripping‑up toward cripping‑in — placing disability not on the periphery but at the heart of storytelling.