Disability Diversity: People with Disabilities Want More Performers to Truly Fit Roles

Posted on November 20, 2009

The hit series Glee, which regularly celebrates diversity and the underdog, has an inherent contradiction: they’ve cast a non-disabled actor to play a paraplegic high school student. Disability advocates see it as another blown chance to hire a performer who truly fits the role.

As I write in chapter 9 of “The Inclusion Paradox: The Obama Era and the Transformation of Global Diversity,” Disability is the diversity issue we fear the most. And fear indeed seems to be behind the why of this blatant gap according to this MSNBC story: “Disabled want more performers to truly fit roles.”

About Andrés

Andrés Tapia is President of Diversity Best Practices, the preeminent diversity and inclusion thinktank and consultancy. In this role, he helps companies create first-in-class diversity strategies and develop innovative solutions for culture change. Previously he served as Hewitt’s Chief Diversity Officer and Emerging Workforce Solutions Leader. As a published writer and prominent speaker, Andrés offers thought-provoking views about diversity’s impact around the world. He is the author of The Inclusion Paradox: The Obama Era and the Transformation of Global Diversity. Find his bio here.