Ep 023: The Last of Us & Disability Representation
Today’s guest, Michelle Asgarali, is a Disabled Creative Producer and Advocate who was a Story Producer on the new CBC docuseries PUSH, which just premiered on February 24th, 2023. We had a great conversation about disability representation and stigmas and tropes that impact the disability community on and off the screen.
On the podcast, we also discussed the importance of creating more accessible and inclusive spaces with universal design and looked at how popular shows like The Last of Us, New Amsterdam, The Good Doctor, and the fab Australian series Latecomers have showcased storylines with disabled characters.
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Music: Deppisch
Design: Perpetualnotion.ca
Mixing/ Mastering: Tony Bao
Support this show: Patreon.com/BraaainsPodcast
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Michelle Asgarali is a Canadian writer/producer with a documentary and TV development background. A Toronto Star article featured her for becoming the first openly-disabled showrunner of a Canadian docuseries. This AMI original docuseries, Breaking Character (Winterhouse Films, 2022-), follows six performers with disabilities as they hustle to make their mark on the stage, screen and runway of Hollywood North. She also was the Lead Story Producer of CBC’S PUSH (Fenix Films and TV/Small Army, 2023-), Canada’s first major-network primetime series featuring a leading cast with disabilities, as well as writing for children's programs by Lopii productions.
Born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Michelle is no stranger to the challenges of navigating the complex world of inclusive storytelling. She hopes to foster this in others within the industry, recently consulting, curating and leading workshops in disability storytelling with North Bay Film Festival, Reelabilities Film Festival, and participating as an advisor in the original group developing the Disability Screen Office.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
See more on Michelle’s past work: www.BreakingCharacter.tv
Accessible Writers’ Lab 2022 Edition Case Study Report (in French and English)
Sign up for the webinar about the report on March 30th, 2023 at 12pm PT: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/570778873977
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