Reprinted from The New York Times by Ali Stroker on July 19, 2020.
If history is a guide, one of the surest ways to get an Oscar is by being a nondisabled person playing a disabled character.
About 25 actors have won Oscars for such performances, including Jamie Foxx for Ray (2005) and Angelina Jolie for Girl, Interrupted (1999), according to the Ruderman Family Foundation, which advocates for inclusion of people with disabilities in employment.
In 2018, 12 percent of characters with a disability in top television shows were portrayed authentically, and actors as well as musicians have felt empowered to shape the public conception of disabilities. …
