Over the past couple of months, I’ve come across multiple new TV shows featuring disabled people and storylines. This gave me the idea to create a list of recommended programmes for you to watch this Disability Pride Month.
What is Disability Pride Month?
Disability Pride originated in America when the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed into law on the 26th July 1990 and a large-scale parade took place in Boston to celebrate the milestone moment.
Then in 2015, July became Disability Pride Month, in which disabled communities globally come together to celebrate how diverse, unique and adaptable they can be. Some people also use this occasion as an opportunity to change the conversation around disability and change perceptions of disabled people’s lived experiences.
There are many ways to get involved with Disability Pride such as attending parades, exhibitions, webinars and workshops.
Alternatively, you can enjoy Disability Pride with a whole host of creative and inclusive content from the comfort of your home including lots of TV shows that include disabled characters, actors, celebrities and storylines.
8 TV shows with disability represention
Here are eight fictional TV shows and documentaries that have been released this summer and feature disabled people and disability storylines, which I think people should watch this Disability Pride Month:
1. Mobility
Mobility is a BBC comedy short co-written and starring disabled comedian Jack Carroll. The 9-minute short film follows three disabled Huddersfield teenagers with nothing in common except that they all have to catch the mobility bus to school.
The plot summary of Mobility is said to take place on the first day of 6th Form, and Mike (played by Jack Carroll) is looking forward to a bit of social mobility. He’s way better than the group of loser friends he’s somehow accrued and aspires to higher things.
But for now, Mike is stuck with Sonny (Zak Ford-Williams), an upbeat and unapologetic geek, and Dan (Ruben Reuter), a lad so acerbic he only communicates in put-downs. Mike thinks he can do better, but he’s going to find it hard to shake them off: Mike, Sonny and Dan all use the mobility bus.
Mike has cerebral palsy, Sonny uses a wheelchair and Dan Syndrome has Down’s Syndrome. So Mike, Sonny and Dan are trapped together, at least for the ride to school.
Check out my exclusive interview with Jack Carroll on Crip Life™.
You can watch Mobility on BBC iPlayer.
2. Wonders Of The World I Can’t See
Wonders Of The World I Can’t See is a series that takes blind stand-up Chris McCausland across the globe to explore some of the world’s most iconic, unforgettable world landmarks, but in a new and unique way that discovers things the ordinary traveller might miss.
In each episode, reluctant traveller Chris is joined by a different celebrity guest – Tom Allen, Harry Hill, Guz Khan and Liza Tarbuck – as his travelling companions. As well as providing a humorous ‘audio description’ of their surroundings for him, the celebrity companions do their best to prove to Chris that there’s much more to visiting these places than meets the eye. Will they manage to convince Chris that it was worth getting off his couch after all?
Find out more about Chris’ adventures and what he thought of them on Crip Life™.
You can watch the full series of Wonders Of The World I Can’t See on Channel 4.
3. Rosie Jones: Am I A R*tard
Celebrated comedian Rosie Jones spends her days bringing smiles and laughter to her audiences on screen and tour. But ever since her first television appearance, she’s kept a dark and upsetting side of her life in the spotlight private – she is trolled online, daily, and with horrific ferocity, often called the ‘R’-word and even receiving rape and death threats because of her disability.
In this unflinchingly personal film, Rosie, who has cerebral palsy, sets out to try to understand how prevalent disability trolling is in the UK, and why it’s often left completely unchecked. She sets herself the challenge of confronting a troll directly, as well as exploring the role social media has to play in the rise of this abuse.
Rosie wants everyone in the UK to be made aware of ableism and to stand up to it when they see it. The film is a call to arms for all of us to play our part in ending the suffering of those who are abused simply because of their disability.
My documentary, ‘Rosie Jones: Am I a R*tard?’ is coming to Channel 4 soon. This is the toughest thing I have ever made, but I am incredibly proud of it. I cannot wait for you to see this important piece of television. Here’s why I chose to put an ableist slur in the title. pic.twitter.com/m8VKWNOOPr
— Rosie Jones (@josierones) June 30, 2023
Rosie Jones: Am I a R*tard? is available to watch and stream on Channel 4.
Read my review of Rosie Jones’ ableism documentary on Crip Life™.
4. Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family
Multiple Gold Medal-winning Paralympian, Ellie Simmonds explores the relationship between disability and adoption in a brand new hour-long documentary Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family a raw and emotional journey of personal discovery for ITV. In this thought-provoking documentary, Ellie follows her own adoption journey as she tracks down her birth mother who gave her up for adoption after only two weeks.
Ellie said: “Until now, it’s never emotionally affected me, it never made me feel rejected or ask why do my birth parents not want me. I’ve been so focused on the future and never thought about it.”
She added: “One of the reasons for being given up for adoption is because of dwarfism and maybe it can be a factor of why my personality is like it is now, because of that rejection at the start. Even if you do have a loving family being rejected straight away, like as soon as you were born.”
View this post on Instagram
Ellie spends time with families who adopted Disabled children, hears deeply personal stories from Disabled people who tried to find their birth parents, only to be rejected again and highlights the pioneering work of social services teams around the UK.
Ellie explores barriers on both sides of the adoptive process – both social and institutional – and asks if we are perpetuating an unfounded stigma around having Disabled children. From probing the existence of in-built systemic bias from the moment of birth to a lack of awareness, Ellie’s mission is to investigate and unravel this complex issue. After finally meeting her birth mother for the first time, an emotional
Ellie said: “I think it’s really helped that finding out who I am, looking at someone who birthed me, the nature that I’m from and the questions I had to ask her and she answered them it makes you a bit more whole.”
She added: “Although I have no idea how all this will play out, I’m glad I’ve gone through this process, questions I’ve carried for years have been answered. I’m proud of my life and I love my family and maybe, perhaps, that family just got bigger.”
You can watch Ellie Simmonds: Finding My Secret Family on ITVX.
5. Rose Ayling-Ellis: Signs for Change
Rose Ayling-Ellis fronts an exciting and groundbreaking film, challenging perceptions of the deaf community and putting audiences at the heart of the deaf experience.
Following the news that, as of April 2022, British sign language has been officially recognised in law, this documentary follows Rose on a personal journey as she speaks to those closest to her, as well as the people pushing boundaries within the deaf community. Exploring whether society is adapting fast enough to allow equality amongst the deaf and hearing worlds, Rose challenges the perception of deafness as something that needs to be cured and highlights the beauty of sign language and the deaf experience.
View this post on Instagram
Filmed over a period of time that sees her performing in Shakespeare’s As You Like It and reflecting on her time as the first regular deaf character in EastEnders and deaf contestant and winner of Strictly Come Dancing, Rose explores whether attitudes towards the deaf community are capable of changing.
Before joining Strictly, MP Rosie Cooper, whose parents were both deaf, had introduced a bill into Parliament asking for BSL to be legally recognised. Rose meets with her to discuss the misconceptions and attitudes that many faced then and now.
Rose reflects on what it meant for her to grow up deaf, in discussion with her parents, the advice given to them from diagnosis, and questioning if anything has changed for those growing up deaf now. Rose meets deaf language expert Dr Kate Rowley and tests her own language abilities, raising questions about the role of sign language in her formative years. She is introduced to Katie and her son Alvie, who were advised not to learn sign language and who has since started a petition to encourage the UK government to make it more accessible.
She also meets a charity that teaches deaf children to speak. Rose explores how technology plays a role in the lives of deaf people and asks whether the hearing world focuses too much on technological fixes and too little on encouraging sign language.
Throughout the film, Rose explores her deaf identity, peering into her personal world and who she is when surrounded by friends and family, as well as the Rose we see on screen and stage.
You can watch Rose Ayling-Ellis: Signs for Change on BBC iPlayer.
6. There She Goes
There She Goes is a comedy-drama, starring David Tennant and Jessica Hynes, about a family whose daughter, Rosie, has a complex learning disability and behavioural difficulties due to a chromosomal disorder. The series is written by Shaun Pye and his wife whose own daughter lives with the same condition.
The first series, which aired in 2018, sees Rosie (played by Miley Locke – a non-disabled actor) as a nine-year-old girl. Then series two, which aired in 2020 sees Rosie at age 11.
Rosie gets up to lots of mischieve including overflowing bubble baths, obsessing over a picture, celebrating Christmas in February and much more. But there is a more serious side, in which she gets very aggressive, has tantrums, breaks things, runs out in the road and hits and bites her parents.
In June 2023, an hour-long special sees Rosie hitting puberty and her finally getting a formal diagnosis for her condition.
You can watch the full series of There She Goes on BBC iPlayer.
7. Best Interests
Best Interests is a heartbreaking drama starring Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen. Their daughter Marnie is living with congenital muscular dystrophy and is hospitalised following a nasty chest infection. She is then intubated and put on a ventilator but suffers more complications including cardiac arrest and seizures. Her consultant decides in the best interests of Marnie, treatment should be stopped and instead, she should receive palliative care.
The mother and father are in disagreement as to whether their daughter should stop treatment and it is then up to the court to decide.
Marnie is played by Irish actor Niamh Moriarty, who has cerebral palsy. As an actor with a disability, she hopes to carve a path in bringing accurate representation to global screens, whilst changing industry standards to make entertainment and creativity more accessible for everyone.
This show has cast other disabled actors including Mat Fraser, who plays Greg the social worker, and Lenny Rush who plays George, a boy who also has muscular dystrophy and has a crush on Marnie.
Best Interests is written by award-winning scriptwriter Jack Thorne, who has written several other disability-related programmes including Help, The Accident and Then Barbara Met Alan. He is passionate about representing disabled talent on and off screen.
You can watch Best Interests on BBC iPlayer.
8. Blindspot
This new Channel 5 crime thriller starring Ross Kemp and Beth Alsbury follows Hannah Quinn, a disabled woman with a wry sense of humour, who works monitoring the CCTV on a rough estate. One day she sees a man she knows is a violent criminal lead a young woman into a blind spot in the camera coverage. He emerges alone but when the police arrive there is no sign of the woman, who appears to have vanished into thin air.
Hannah is convinced that she has been murdered, but her fears are dismissed by the apathetic and possibly corrupt policeman Tony Warden, who is in charge of the case. Hannah remains undeterred and will soon find her own life in danger as she fights to discover what really happened in the blind spot.
Hannah Quinn is played by disabled actor Beth Alsbury, who uses a wheelchair. What is different and great about this show is that the story is not about disability but just the fact the main character Hannah happens to be in a wheelchair. It is amazing to see disabled people cast in roles without focusing on their impairment but just being represented as a member of society.
You can watch the full series of Blindspot on My5.
What other TV shows that feature disability would you recommend? Let us know in the comments box or on social media.
