Culture
Speechless Is Breaking New Ground on Television
The new ABC comedy about the family of a teenager with cerebral palsy is one of the rare shows to put a character with disabilities at the center of its narrative.
By David M. Perry
ABC
September 21, 2016
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In the very first moments of its opening episode, Speechless lets viewers know what kind of show it’s going to be. In the parking lot of a fast-food joint, two teens stare rudely as JJ DiMeo (Micah Fowler), a 16-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, is lowered onto the wheelchair lift from his family’s van. JJ responds by flipping them off. He doesn’t have the digital articulation to separate his middle fingers though, so his mother translates, saying, “That’s the finger,” to make sure the jerks know that they’re being insulted. The moral: Communication can be hard, but with good social support you can let everyone know exactly what you mean.
As soon as the trailer for the new ABC comedy dropped in June, Speechless became one of the most important shows about disability in the history of television. That’s not hyperbole; rather, it speaks to the fact that shows that center characters with disabilities, feature actors with [...]