SAG-AFTRA Sponsors Panel at the Film and Television Accessibility Summit

At the ReelAbilities Film Festival’s inaugural Film and Television Accessibility Summit, the SAG-AFTRA National Performers with Disabilities Committee lent its support to the event with its Production panel on April 11. The festival is the largest in the country that’s dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expression of people with disabilities.

The panel included SAG-AFTRA member and Deaf actor Lauren Ridloff (Eternals), casting associate April Caputi (This Close) and director of photography Nasreen Alkhateeb. Producer and production accessibility coordinator Kiah Amara, the founder of IndieVisible Entertainment, moderated the discussion. 

As creatives with disabilities, the panelists shared knowledge and experience that centered around the importance of accessibility at all phases of production, and how to develop best practices in industry spaces. The conversation began with a breakdown of “exclusion by familiarity,” a phenomenon in which traditional studio systems only hire individuals with whom they are familiar. According to the panelists, this practice excludes people with disabilities and has resulted in new perspectives not being brought into decision-making. It can only be combated by “decentered leadership,” they said. 

“Decentering as a whole has everything to do with identifying privilege,” said Alkhateeb. “[Asking questions such as], 'What privilege do I have, what spaces am I occupying, and how can I use my power to leverage disabled people into those spaces?' has everything to do with decentering the people that continually make the same decisions and the same kinds of decisions about production over and over.”

One key area that Caputi said she is working on to make more accessible through decentered leadership is the casting process. Others offered similar suggestions, including hiring an ASL interpreter to be present during auditions. Their consensus was these practices make an intentional effort to work with each performer’s needs, which translates into more genuine representations of disability on the screen.

Panelists discussed the harmful stereotype that disabled people are a liability to productions. The conversation focused on dispelling the myth that compensating for the needs of a disabled person slows production and is costly.

“When I started working in this industry, I felt like I had to apologize about asserting my needs,” said Amara. “But quickly I realized, 'Wait a minute, no. Actors have their needs, regardless if it’s to do with a disability.’ It really helped me to see how … younger actors, younger talent, people who are coming up in this industry need to put that in the back of their mind: Don’t apologize for what we need. We all have needs.”

She continued, “[Sharing your needs] takes a lot of courage, and at the same time, I think it takes strength because there’s not always an answer or a solution to your own needs. Sometimes ... it really just helps to say something [because] somebody else might have the answer.”

The panelists shared that they’re looking forward to seeing more authentic representation of people with disabilities in film and TV that informs and better educates non-disabled communities. They also hoped to see greater opportunities for people with disabilities behind the camera, as well as accessibility integrated in the filming processes. 

Scroll below to view the full panel. More information about the festival and similar events is available on its website.

Photo: From left, SAG-AFTRA member Lauren Ridloff and industry professionals Nasreen Alkhateeb, Kiah Amara and April Caputi at the ReelAbilities Film Festival’s Film and Television Accessibility Summit on April 11.