Addressing Hallmark Channel's "Blind" Spot
Yesterday, it was announced that Sarah Drew ("Christmas In Vienna", "One Summer") would be portraying the titular character in an upcoming Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film "Guiding Emily". The movie, which is set to premiere on Friday September 8 at 9/8 Central, revolves around the titular Emily, who becomes blind following a rock-climbing accident. While Hallmark Channel has made tremendous strides when it comes to representation in the disabled community (For example, "The Christmas Bow" features a disabled character named Tess, played by real life Charcot-Marie-Tooth patient Joy Perry, and movies like "Our Christmas Journey" and "Color My World With Love" feature autistic actors and actors with Down Syndrome in prominent roles), one area that the network is still lagging behind in when it comes to authentic representation in the disabled community is blind or visually impaired actors. By my count, Emily will be at the least the second prominent blind character to appear in a Hallmark movie or series, following Angela Canfield (Vienna Leacock) on "When Calls The Heart", and while Vienna does an excellent job at portraying Angela (and I'm sure that Sarah will give an excellent performance as Emily), both characters are still played by able-bodies actors. Which brings me to my next question-when it comes to casting actors in disabled roles, should Hallmark Channel choose the best actor or actress available, even if the actor themselves isn't disabled, or should they make a conscious effort to cast an actor who actually has that disability? Some may point out that with some disabilities, like Down Syndrome, casting an actor who actually has the disability is necessary since the disability comes with several physical characteristics that would not show up in an able-bodied actor and cannot be easily hidden while a blind character might not have any distinguishing physical characteristics that cannot be covered up with accessories such as a pair of sunglasses. Others may argue that a blind actor might have a harder time navigating their way around a set than an able bodied actor, but this has not stopped other shows like "Call The Midwife" (Ellie Wallwork as Marion Irmsby), "Game Of Thrones" (Peter Vaughan as Master Aemon), "Star Trek: Strange New Worlds" (Bruce Horak as Hemmer), "This Is Us" (Blake Stadnik as Jack Damon) and "The Wire" (S. Robert Morgan as Butchie) from casting actual blind or visually impaired actors as blind or visually impaired characters. With that being said, I would like to know what your thoughts are on this. Does Hallmark Channel need to make more of an effort when it comes to representation in the blind and/or visually impaired community? Let me know in the comments section below.
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Wes, thank you for sharing this. This is an eloquent and passionate take on this subject and I think Hallmark channel needs to do better in this regard.
ReplyDeleteSuch an insightful essay. This is something I haven’t thought about before. You are so right.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree that Hallmark has done a great job of late with movies with under-represented people but also I would also like to see them cast a blind person (or person in a wheel-chair etc) as blind. It hits different when you know the person has sight. And I'm sure there are lots of blind actors (actors in wheelchairs, etc) looking for their big break. Let's do this!
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