SAG-AFTRA Launches ‘Inclusion: Time to Get Real’ Video Series

SAG-AFTRA continues to recognize the contributions of performers with disabilities during National Disability Employment Awareness Month.

Inclusion: Time to Get Real, created by the SAG-AFTRA Performers with Disabilities Committee, is a series of five vignettes that offer a light approach to a serious subject. At the series’ official launch on Oct. 15, its first three vignettes, “True Cringe,” “Can’t Do What?” and “You’re So Brave,” were exhibited to the media, with the remaining videos, “I’m Pretty Sure I’ve Got This” and “I'm a Romantic Lead,” to be released by the end of the month.

The vignettes are now available on SAG-AFTRA’s website at sagaftra.org/timetogetreal and will be posted to Twitter/X, Instagram and the SAG-AFTRA YouTube channel. All videos will be released in English, English with Audio Description, Spanish and Spanish with Audio Description. Viewers can use the closed caption feature in the YouTube video player and social media versions will include open captions.

The videos were conceived of as an effort to not only remind the entertainment industry of the value and extraordinary talent that performers with disabilities provide, but also to challenge limiting misconceptions about the roles that are “appropriate” for them.

“People with disabilities are America’s largest minority, representing nearly 26% of the nation’s population. Yet disabled performers are not afforded equal opportunities in entertainment and media and remain among the least represented in the industry,” said SAG-AFTRA National Performers with Disabilities Committee Chair Christine Bruno (Law & Order, God Friended Me) at the series’ official launch. “National Disability Employment Awareness Month not only celebrates the work of performers with disabilities, it is an opportunity to call attention to inaccurate, inauthentic portrayals of disability and the lived experience of disability. Most importantly, it is a call to action for the industry to commit to making the changes necessary to ensure disabled performers are authentically represented as an integral part of the American Scene."

Joining Bruno were other committee members, including Nicole Cyrille (Grey’s Anatomy, A Christmas Prayer) Sheila Ivy Traister (Brothers, Giant Void), and Jack Patterson (Criminal Minds), as well as SAG-AFTRA National Board member Michelle Hurd (Kemba, Anyone But You). The group offered insights into the experiences of performers with disabilities and highlighted why National Disability Employment Awareness Month is so important.

The committee hopes that the series will inspire performers, casting directors, filmmakers, employers and allies to call for equal opportunities for performers with disabilities.

Watch a replay of the full press conference here.

The full playlist with audio descriptions are available here.

As the world’s most influential entertainment union, SAG-AFTRA has committed itself to providing equitable opportunities for all performers. On Sept. 9, Bruno, Cyrille and PWD Committee member Marilee Talkington joined other disability rights activists and leaders at the White House to celebrate the 34th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. In honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month, the SAG-AFTRA podcast has also released its episode “Celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month” featuring Bruno and PWD Committee member and Easterseals Disability Film Challenge Founder Nic Novicki.

For more information, visit sagaftra.org.

Photo: A behind-the-scenes look at the “Inclusion: Time to Get Real” vignette “Can’t Do What?” featuring Jason George, Angel Giuffria and Brian Dietzen.