Hollywood, Glee and Disability

Chemistry and Landing the Job

I recently watched an episode, for the 2nd time I confess, of the hit high school coming of age TV show Glee from its last season. For the uninitiated, Glee’s storylines revolve around the trials and tribulations of a small group of very diverse, often quirky, and always troubled teens who comprise the glee club along with a few of their teachers and administrators. For my money the writing and acting honor some valid soul-searching around complex challenges for kids of this age like sexual identity and acceptance, respect for who you are and not what you look like or what clique you’re in, self-esteem, and related.

Glee, Disability & Title I

One of the characters  is a young guy portrayed as having  a spinal cord injury who uses a chair for his mobility. He’s got a certain Elvis Costello look on the outside, lean to skinny, black glasses, pale skin tone, reserved at first sight. But this episode dove into his life, delving into dialogue that provided a glimpse of his self-regard, relationship to his girlfriend – also in glee -  not to mention some of his own prejudicial baggage, and raw talent as he provided a driving solo featuring him (or a sit-in perhaps?) singing and dancing- again with a little bit of a gritty Costelloesque quality – though this guy’s a better dancer than Costello - and he was GOOD!

His chair choreography and skills were exceptional and athletic, his voice was strong and had a character that I wouldn’t have expected, and the number didn’t patronize or placate the presence of his disability, but actually celebrated the fact that he’d made the chair work as an extension of his being. Any of us who’ve competed in adapted sports knows how critical that is to success and competitiveness – and, perhaps more fitting to this – any dancer or entertainer who uses a chair understands this.

Fast forward and I hear through the grapevine that the actor who plays this guy doesn’t have a spinal cord injury.

I was deeply disappointed and frustrated with this initially. I have met and been so impressed with Robert David Hall, the medical examiner on the original CSI  among other credits, who is a bilateral amputee and staunch advocate for actors with disabilities playing roles of persons with disabilities in the arts. I am obviously a professional advocate for employment opportunities for qualified candidates with disabilities as well, so this was really frustrating for me to learn. It wasn’t the first time I’d been impressed with an actor who didn’t have a disability playing a man with SCI – Jon Voight in Coming Home, Tom Cruise in Born on the 4th of July, Robert Conrad in….well let’s just stick with those two. I note that I was initially disappointed  because a more subtle and gray point of discussion occurred to me related to their decision – and one clearly linked to Title I of the ADA and its precepts.

Title I Do’s and Dont’s

Title I, clearly supports a level playing field where candidates for positions, irrespective of the presence of a disability as defined by the ADA, are embraced to apply to and be considered for a role. It explicitly dismisses any burden on a prospective employer to “assure” that role to a candidate. In other words, Title I has no quota attached to the screening, interviewing, or hiring process. It’s not an affirmative action legislation, but rather a clear extension of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or equality applied to those of us with disabilities.

So I began considering this and, giving the producers of the show the benefit of the doubt that they at least made a good-faith effort to reach out to the community of actors with mobility disabilities to screen for this role, will assume that the actor who landed the role was  the best actor for that opportunity. I’m as adamant as any advocate or career developer that employers should give far more than lip service to engaging the base of qualified candidates with disabilities for opportunities – and making every effort to know how to engage us – before defaulting to a like candidate without a disability, at least if they presume to suggest that they support being part of the solution of helping our nation to overcome the overall employment disparity between the two. However, at the end of the day an employer has not only the right, but the responsibility, to make the best hire for the organization.

Exhibit your inner “IT”

The moral of the story from my perspective is this: don’t assume that because you weren’t interviewed, or were interviewed and not offered the job, the employer was guilty of discriminatory behavior. With the widespread adoption of behavioral interviewing tools and techniques,  identifying the “right” candidate is often a complex and multi-faceted process or formula. You might just have to accept that you weren’t the best candidate for that role. Take it as a lesson, an experience, an opportunity to critique how you approached, prepared for, and executed during the process – and take those lessons to your next opportunity. We’re ALL on stage during the interview and hiring process, and we don’t always have “IT” as they say in Hollywood, disability or not.