Have you ever been to New York City and seen the billboards advertising Broadway shows? More specifically, have you ever seen one that includes a character or even an actor that has a disability? You most likely haven't and personally, I believe that that is not okay and frankly, it needs to change.

There are two components of the issue, one being that there are no permanently disabled characters in any of the shows on Broadway, both in the past and currently, not even small, supporting roles. The other component of the issue is that seeing as there no roles of that nature, it discourages disabled individuals from even thinking about potentially pursuing an acting career., especially for those who desire a career in professional theatre. In fact, I am one of those people.

Personally, I have been involved in the performing arts for as long as I can remember. Actually, I even considered majoring in theatre in college but decided not to for several reasons, one of them being that I felt as if I would not be successful as an actress, due to the unfortunate lack of work being offered to those actors and actresses with disabilities. Furthermore, ever since I was a little girl I always dreamt of making it to Broadway, but as I got older I realized how unrealistic that was because there is such little opportunity available for actors like myself in New York or any of the other major cities that host Broadway shows.

In terms of lack of representation in theatre, Broadway has become increasingly progressive over the years in terms of creating shows that included characters that would be considered to be part of minorities, some examples of shows that do this include Rent, Hamilton, Caroline or change, Waitress. I am extremely impressed by the way the Broadway community has expanded their horizons and continually aim to diversify themselves.

However, with all of that progressiveness, the disabled community seems to have been left in the dust. Representation of the disabled community in theatre is severely lacking and is desperately needed. The reason is because not only does this community deal with many of the same issue that other minority communities deal with, but we need the representation because we need to normalize the idea of disability, and to illustrate through art that having a disability is not something to be ashamed of, but rather embraced and accepted by society. In addition, having the disabled community represented will educate audience members and inspire aspiring actors who happen to have a disability, to go for it and not completely give up on their dream of becoming an actor or actress.

So, I am calling on all playwrights to consider writing a show that includes and highlights characters with disabilities. Further, I encourage these playwrights to advocate for the casting of someone who actually has a disability. Doing so will ensure that not only will the community be represented in the production, but properly so. I believe that even if only one show was created, it could potentially incite further change and even transcend art forms.