Rosie Jones, differently (and equally!) Actress
TV can be such a powerful medium : it makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it gives charge and you move your days. But still today there is a problem: it does not show, if not very rarely, disabled people.
These are the words of Rosie Jones, who worked hard to convey this message to her country, England, establishing herself as an actress and stand up comedian . Not only: she is the author of several British shows and was awarded at the "Funny Women Awards" in 2016.
We find it in an episode of the TV series Silent Witness, entitled "One Day" (in Italian, "Un giorno"). But we can also discover it on YouTube, funny, irreverent and ironic, while presenting its own disease, ataxic cerebral palsy, to the general public.
Disabled on TV, imperfect human beings like everyone else
In the UK, according to the editorial by Rosie Jones, disabled people are just under 14 million. In our country, on the other hand, the National Health Observatory in the Italian regions records about 4.5 million. In most cases, we hear about it to denounce the lack of public assistance and services that guarantee an acceptable quality of life.
Much more rare are the reflections on the therapeutic and beneficial value of art, including acting for cinema, TV and theater. Actually, acting means "putting the other on the stage", freeing one's expressiveness, shouting one's anger or giving vent to happiness.
As Rosie Jones points out, the TV is a vehicle to let the public know about a diverse world, a world in which the disabled person is not only a moving figure, a "Forrest Gump" that is tender.
Nothing prevents a person in a wheelchair from being drunk, competitive, careerist, selfish. An imperfect human being, in short, just like everyone else!
Actors and writers who talk about disability
And in Italy? Lately there is no shortage of films and shows that talk about disability. Very well known is David Anzalone, also known as Zanza, who calls himself "Handicappato e carogna" and named his book, published in 2008.
Going over the borders again, Lee Ridley, also known as the Lost Voice Guy, made such a stir a few months ago. This 37-year-old stand-up comedian, suffering from a form of cerebral palsy that has deprived him of his word, triumphed at Britain's Got Talent, the UK's most famous talent show.
A book to read is undoubtedly "The fall" by Diogo Mainardi, a formidable indictment against the cliché of "normality". The narration brings out the fact that to unite the disabled and able-bodied is precisely "the fall ", understood as a category of the spirit: we were all born as beings in balance, unstable and unique in our fallibility.
