Growing up, I never saw anyone with Cerebral Palsy, let alone someone who is disabled being appeared in television shows and movies. In May of 2016, American television network ABC, released news of their new television series, Speechless. About a teenage boy
with Cerebral Palsy who is non-verbal.
Speechless is a television series about a teenage boy, J.J. who was born with cerebral palsy. He is non-verbal and J.J. uses an electric wheelchair. Despite having CP, J.J. was just like any other teenager; yes, he had doctor’s and therapy appointments, but this didn’t stop J.J., and he wasn’t treated any differently from his non-disabled siblings.
We got to see his everyday life, including his life at home with his family. Yes, they had to adapt to suit J.J.’s individual needs, but the writers of this series wrote them the DiMeo’s into the show like any other ordinary family.
Micah Fowler plays the main character, J.J. DieMo. Born with Cerebral Palsy, but with less complex needs then the character. Micah got the role, and he started filming not long after he finished high school.
I remember it like yesterday when my friends within the disability community were talking about Speechless, and how good it was. From that moment, I knew I needed to check this out, and within the first couple episodes I was hooked. Prior to watching this show, I had my opinions like anyone else. When I started watching this show I fell in love with how they written the show, espically how they wrote J.J. and his non-disabled siblings, Dylan (Kyla Kennedy) and Ray (Mason Cook). It’s not often that we see disability representation being shown in the media, if so, it’s more likely a non-disabled actor plays a disabled character rather then, a disabled actor playing a disabled character.
As a young disabled person who has CP, I found this series really relatable, and I believed they wrote it well. Non-disabled folks that don’t know anything about disability don’t really know that people living with disabilities live normal lives; despite therapy and doctor appointments, we adapt our lives as disabled people to the able-bodied society so that we can go to the shops and go to work just like non-disabled people.
If you liked my television show review and you want to watch Speechless you can.
· In Australia you can purchase it through iTunes to watch serries by series, or show by show – Click here
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