It’s society that needs to adapt - not disabled people.
Chloe Ball-Hopkins asks: Are we finally seeing disability through a less disabling lens?
It’s been a big year for disability. The Winter Paralympics, the launch of the Valuable 500* and the Doubling Disability** project have all put the representation and portrayal of disabled people firmly in the spotlight.
My sincere hope is that this is not just a media moment, but a societal movement that enshrines the equity of disabled people in public, professional and cultural life. An equity that many of us have often felt was impossible.
The recent BBC Two Drama Then Barbara Met Alan brought the disability movement’s long and hard fought battles to a primetime slot. It reminded me that in the decade I was born, disabled people did not have the same rights as those considered ‘able bodied’. Buses were out of bounds. Your employability status was based on how generous your boss decided to be. ‘Cripple pity’ was the main lens via which the media portrayed us.
Jack Thorne’s shout-out-loud script tells of an exciting moment in the early ‘90s, when the sparks of revolution ignited those living with a disability in the UK to demand better. And that included tying ourselves to buses and wheelchair-storming national TV studios.
The film tells the true story of Barbara Lisiki and Alan Holdsworth, performers who met on the cabaret circuit, fell in love and became two of the founding members of DAN (The Direct Action Network). The group led an organised campaign of civil disobedience which ultimately led to the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act, the first time disabled people were recognised as having equal rights by law. This act was thin and hard to enforce, but paved the way for the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the Equality Act 2010.
The BBC Two drama offered up an uncanny mirror to a world we have supposedly moved on from, and yet it felt unnervingly familiar 30 years on. Celebrities on TV appealing for donations for a helpless disabled kid; a couple going for a meal and the wheelchair not fitting through the door; a right-on worthy type mistaking Barbara’s boyfriend for her carer.
On a personal level I could relate to so many moments of Then Barbara Met Alan. My partner is absolutely an ally and regularly wants to fight my corner in these types of infuriating situations, but I am like Barbara and don’t like to create a fuss.
Yet more recently I have realised just how important it is to have that support in those difficult and all too frequent moments. Only the other day a shop assistant reached unthinkingly across my lap. It can be exhausting to constantly be the ‘explainer’ in these scenarios, having to point out how and why someone’s behaviour or words need to change. When I wasn’t able to speak up for myself and say that this person’s actions weren’t okay, my partner did.
So what if we lived in a world where it wasn’t just our loved ones and close friends who had our corner? What if the ripple we’ve been seeing recently in attitudes and commitments to real equity for disabled people turns into a tidal wave? So much so, that it would be entirely usual to expect to see a wheelchair user on a date, or throwing some serious shapes on the dance floor, having got into the club and onto the dance floor without any faff. Oh and how about a disabled person being out on the pull and having some banging sex too? Utterly normal.
The reason I don’t think we are there yet is that the sex scenes inparticular in Then Barbara Met Alan still felt pretty ground-breaking. This film being on at 9pm on a main channel felt unusual. (The only other programme I have seen with had a sex scene with a disabled character was in the most recent season of Sex Education on Netflix, released September 2021).
Jack Thorne is a much respected writer at the top of his game - but he says this was his first disabled story on a full budget.
The production prioritised disabled talent and visibility, including 17 disabled actors, 55 disabled supporting actors and 50% of senior editorial team representation, as well as consultancy from disability groups.
I wonder how many current TV productions, whether featuring a disabled story or not, can demonstrate that level of commitment to working with and nurturing disabled talent?
The truth is that TV, like many sectors to be frank, still appears very closed off to most people with disabilities. I wonder whether that’s why every day portrayal of disabled people, sex lives and all, feels so absent. If you don’t have disabled people representing disabled perspectives behind camera, how will accurate and normative portrayal happen on-screen?
I am about to graduate from my Media Production degree and become a full time content producer in an industry that I love. My hope is that if I ever get to make a film or programme looking back at this moment, it will be about this being the decade we stopped labelling, limiting and disabling disabled people, and began valuing their economic, creative and cultural capital. Because if Then Barbara Met Alan demonstrates anything - it’s that we have balls, brains and a barrel load of untapped talent.
About the Author: Chloe Ball-Hopkins is a former Para Archer for Team GB, a TEDx Speaker and adapted fashion campaigner. Chloe previously worked for the BBC as a reporter and producer, and is currently finishing her Media Production Degree while also working part-time for Gritty Talent as our content producer.
Watch Then Barbara Met Alan on BBC iPlayer: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0015p4q
*The Valuable 500’s mission is to use the power of business to drive lasting change for the 1.3 billion people around the world, living with a disability.
https://www.thevaluable500.com/
**Doubling Disability is a project which aims to double the percentage of disabled people working in UK broadcasting by the end of 2021.
