It wasn’t until years later that I learned I was being confused with actress Tarah Schaeffer, who was a regular on the series and was a wheelchair user with my same disability. Never did I assume it was because I was disabled. 'Star Wars: Visions': How the Anime Anthology Expands the Franchise by Returning to its Japanese Rootsĥ0 Essential United Artists Movies Amazon Will Own in MGM DealĮmmy Predictions: Best Actress in a Drama Series - Corrin, Colman, or Not 'The Crown'? 'Where Is Anne Frank': How Ari Folman Got Animated About the Legendary Diary It wasn’t until after I wrote it that I realized I had an earlier experience: During the first four years of school I was asked constantly if I once had been on “ Sesame Street.” I always thought it was cool to hear this, because I assumed they were obviously confusing me with some girl who had brown hair or wore glasses. I talked in the first part of this series about watching “The Wild Thornberries” as a kid and seeing the character of Bethany, who used a wheelchair. They’ve never solely been focused on introducing disability in children’s lives early - more often than not, they are creating fully-fleshed out characters to help children who might be disabled themselves. As a disabled writer, I will use both person-first and identity-first language interchangeably for purposes of brevity and clarity.Īnimation and children’s programming long have been at the forefront of disability representation. You can find Part One in the series here and Part Two here. This is part of an ongoing series that looks at the history of disability issues in television.

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