In Australia, although 18% of our population live with a disability, just 6.6% of main characters in scripted TV drama have a disability while in video games its less than 1%. Authentic portrayals of disability in the media and arts can have ripple effects on everything from public policy, attitudes and productivity.
I speak from personal experience. A few years ago, I was invited to co-write the first English language translation of Tchaikovsky’s last opera. The story is about a young princess called Iolanta who is confined to a castle because she is blind. Her father, the King, does not want her to know she is blind and has forbidden anyone around her to talk about vision or the world outside the castle. The princess does find out and falls in love. She has an operation, et voila! she can see and is thus fit to marry her beloved.
While this was a very exciting opportunity, I questioned if I was qualified to work on this opera. I knew I could write but I had no experience writing an opera. What I did have was the experience of being blind from birth. I had a lot in common with the princess who was also blind from birth. I also knew what it was like to be confined to a place as it had happened to me.
In the fairytale, the princess breaks out of her confinement by getting “fixed” – but this was problematic to me. I found my freedom too but I didn’t have to see to gain it. If I got involved in this production, could we alter the opera to present the princess more authentically? This was a golden opportunity to change people’s attitudes towards disability but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.
Meeting the stage director, Katt Osbourne, who also wanted to reimagine this story was reassuring. But using one person’s perspective on blindness isn’t sufficient; we are afterall a diverse group with various views on matters. So we established a focus group with seven other people who were blind or vision impaired. We had lively discussions about how the play should end and how it should be framed. One thing that drew unanimous agreement from all involved was that the performer playing the princess had to be blind.
The staging of this opera was a heartening step forward towards inclusion – not just in terms of the message conveyed in the opera, but in the way that the opera was produced.
It has inspired a new endeavour: the ‘No Fairytale Project’ which builds on this in the form of an impact film and campaign. Its aim: to see 18% of characters in mainstream stage and screen productions to be authentically portrayed characters with a disability by 2030. This way, we will see an end to stigmatising story tropes and increase opportunities for people with disabilities to create, perform, and lead.