The harm of ‘cripping up’
‘Cripping up,’ is traditionally when a non-disabled actor plays the role of a disabled character and their portrayal involves mimicry of the physical characteristics of a specific disability or medical condition.
There has recently been a furore of anger from disabled communities, as there is whenever a media project, be it film, tv or written material focuses on our stories without centring us in them. For many marginalised communities the phrase ‘nothing about us without us’ is a battlecry often ignored for the ‘ease’ or working within our comfort zones. This is never more clear than when people struggle to say the word disabled, which is far from a bad word. Disability is a clear category, it is not a slur but a way of defining a lived existence. That is why when project’s like Sia’s upcoming film “Music” are announced the disabled community looks very closely at how our stories are being told.
In the case of Sia’s work, she is telling the tale of a non-speaking autistic woman who uses Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to communicate. On the face of it this sounds like wonderful representation, we don’t often see those who communicate using an app or pictures on screen as much as we see the savant stereotype of autistic people, and an autistic woman rather than the often representation of a man or boy.
However this is where things start to fall apart. Sia did not authentically research the disability she is portraying, she is sharing her perspective on an autistic person with different communication needs. Sia has publicly said she spent three years researching autism for this film, but didn’t come across some of the very open truths the autistic community share. We don’t like to be referred to as having “special abilities” (Sia’s wording), our abilities aren’t special and nor are out needs, they might just be additional needs for support. The general consensus is we like to be called autistic not “neuroatypical” (Sia’s wording), autism is not a deficit but a difference that is integral to who we are as people and how we experience the world.
Working with autistic people is essential to ensure our stories are being told, Sia didn’t do this to the level to tell our stories authentically, which is obvious in the characterisation of autism. What is often forgotten is autistic people individual have a wealth of expertise and knowledge, some work professionally on advising autistic representation and others are successful actors. Neither were sourced for this role, autism was always viewed from an outside in perspective for this project. Where Sia reached out to friends to then reimagine their words on screen her long time collaborator Maddie Ziegler also did not speak to autistic people about how to portray us, simply watching videos of us in distress to build our character understanding. There are so many autistic actors who could have filled this position, but they weren’t even asked.
This way of producing content is not new, leaving disabled people out of the conversations about their own stories and representation is no where near new. Repeatedly we see non-disabled actors made to ‘crip up’ for roles and portray a lived experience that they have no experience of. Not only does this lead to inauthentic representation that crystallises stereotypes and stigma (no matter how well intentioned) but it also takes opportunity away from disabled people who can add so much more to sharing the stories of their community. This happens so often that there is almost no longer hope in the disabled community but rather a wider feeling of disappointed but not surprised, no matter how many times we shout out at the inaccuracy we are not heard by those with the power in production offices.
It is not the film industry that is harmed by repeatedly asking actors to portray experiences that are not their own, with the defence of that is what acting is, but rather the harm falls to the public who are shown an image of how they are viewed by society with no action to change the situation only embed it. This change is long overdue and won’t happen until people start to value stories and perspectives other than their own, just because you have the power to share something doesn’t mean you talk over others. Autistic people who are non-speaking often have their ‘voice taken away’ by others thinking them unable to share their views but that is incredibly untrue. In times like this and beyond we have to listen to those whose opinions are often excluded from the narrative about themselves.
Like Communication First, a disabled people’s organisation ran by those who can’t rely on speech. They shared their thoughts on the situation in a statement. Other autistic people have used their large platforms to amplify non-speaking autistics and those with unreliable speech, like Julia Bascom who explained the context and shared her platform in a twitter thread.
It’s important that pieces commissioned by news outlets on this are not written by non-disabled people, not written by those disabled generally but specifically autistic people who are non-speaking or have unreliable speech. Otherwise the cycle continues, those most impacted are not heard from and money continues to go to those who do not have the full experience to tell the stories that need to be told. Platforms can be shared and space made for people, that is what is needed here.
