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New TV Series Written by Disabled Filmmakers Will Challenge Disability Stereotypes

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On Friday, BBC America announced it will air a series of short films to challenge disability stereotypes, tentatively titled “Disability Monologues.” Every episode is created and acted completely by people with disabilities and will premiere sometime in 2020.

BBC America tasked actor Mat Fraser, who has thalidomide-induced phocomelia, with curating a series of six 15-minute short films that aim to challenge stereotypes and negative beliefs about disability. The fictional stories, delivered as monologues, will cover the history of disability in Britain over the last 50 years, including topics like disability discrimination, incarceration and the advent of the electric wheelchair.

Each fictional story in the series will be written, directed and acted by people with disabilities, including Jackie Hagan, Ruth Madeley, Robert Softley Gale, Liz Carr, Genevieve Barr, Tom Wentworth and Matilda Ibini, among others.

“Disability is not talked about enough in the conversation of inclusion in film and television,” said Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group & AMC Studios, in a statement. “When you have more diverse people in front pf and behind the camera, then the work is stronger and that’s exciting. We’re delighted to air ‘Disability Monologues’ (wt) on BBC America.”

“Disability Monologues” will air on BBC America in 2020, though a specific date has not been announced.

Header image via Mat Fraser’s Twitter

Originally published: January 17, 2020
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