Making television and film sets culturally safer for disabled screen practitioners and content creatives
Posted on: Fri 5 May 2023
Throughout the last few years, the number of disabled screen practitioners and content creatives craving out a pathway onto the Australian screen industry has slightly grown, but it still remains inaccessible, inequitable, unsustainable and unsafe for those who can’t leverage or advocate on their own behalf for reasonable diverse access needs and accommodations to help them during filming on a studio set safely without feeling isolated or exploited.
For Perth born disabled and queer writer, director, thought leader, stand-up comedian, and self-described ‘narcissistic’ disabled ingenue Alistair Baldwin, who lives with muscular dystrophy, trying to establish himself as a bonafide, provocative and risk-taking storyteller doesn’t always collate with self belief, external validation and the unconscious biases that is imposed by television and film production companies, who might have limited capabilities when hiring, recruiting and casting those with a lived experience of disability or other intersecting aspects of identity.
Baldwin shares more about his career-defying moments with De-Stigmatised‘s Jarad McLoughlin, including receiving a glass trophy for writing a short story from Tim Winton at 14 years old and having to struggle constantly with ‘main character syndrome’ despite his many successes on well known and upcoming linear free to air/streaming television programs and theatre shows, such as The Weekly, Hard Quiz, Lame, At Home Alone Together, Latecomers, Everest, Telethon Kid, Erotic Stories and Deadloch.
Produced by Jarad McLoughlin
Photo supplied by Alistair Baldwin
