Jason George on disability inclusion in Hollywood

My experience when it comes to disability

being included
in the conversation about inclusivity

has been that, in general, it hasn't been.

It's only recently
that it's really started

to move the needle.

I mean, y'all,

I do a lotta work with SAG-AFTRA,

and it's around
issues of diversity and inclusivity,

and I gotta say
that the performance of disability committee

has done phenomenal work in moving the needle

and getting this conversation happening in the industry.

It's amazing how much energy it takes

to get that that big old boulder rolling just an inch,

and they've done that, and it's startin' to move now,

it's actually startin' to roll,

and people are havin' that conversation.

I think what I'm most excited about right now

is that so many people
are talking about equality and inclusivity,

and they are trying to make sure

that nobody gets left out.

And so when you point out to somebody

that they're leaving out 20% of the population,

they pay attention, they wake up.

And so that to me,

I think it's not been nearly as hard a conversation

as it would have been 10, 15 years ago.

People suddenly go, "(gasping) Oh, you're right.

You're right, I haven't been thinking about that,

I haven't been including performers with disabilities

in my projects,

I haven't been hiring writers with disabilities,

I haven't been looking for producing...

You know, so the simple fact that it's being pointed out to them

sometimes in the you know shaming way

but sometimes in the this actually will help

improve your bottom line

because people always wanna see themselves on camera.

And it doesn't always need to be the point,

in fact, sometimes it's most powerful

when you see a person on camera with a disability

and it's not the point of the story.

That's happening more and more.

It's not happening enough, let's be clear,

but it's happening more.

'Cause you know, at the end of the day,

I think people are starting to realize

that if you say you stand for equality,

it's gotta be equality across the board.

It can't be just for equality for people that look like me,

or are my gender, or think like me, or love like me,

it's got to be equality for everybody.

Either you fight for everybody,

or you're really just fighting for yourself and people like you.

So I think that's the message

that's gotta get out there more and more.

And I think it's out there in that little simple note

of don't forget about these folks

who are, by the way, the biggest population of people

that are forgotten in the country.

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