The New York Times

October 7, 2008

Actors with disabilities seek more roles

By Michael Cieply, Compiled by Dave Itzkoff

“We are virtually invisible,” Robert David Hall, a regular on “CSI,” said at a news conference on Monday announcing a plan to expand media-industry employment of people with disabilities. Mr. Hall, who walks on prosthetics and plays Dr. Al Robbins on “CSI,” said he played one of only three disabled characters in recurring television roles. At briefings in Los Angeles, New York and Washington leaders of the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Actors’ Equity Association said they were planning a broad push to increase physical access to auditions, a major expansion in roles for the disabled and greater employment for disabled journalists. Mr. Hall spoke as the chairman of a tri-union committee of people with disabilities. A presentation estimated that fewer than 2 percent of film and television characters are disabled, while 20 percent of the nation’s population has a disability of some kind.

Disability Rights California, California's protection and advocacy system, is supporting the campaign, as are many other disability advocacy groups.