Ableism

Joaquin Phoenix has been cast in an upcoming moving portraying a disabled cartoonist. There has been some disagreement with his casting, some calling it ableism and discrimination against the disabled community, as there were numerous disabled actors who auditioned for the role.

“Ableism is discrimination and social prejudice against people with disabilities. Ableism characterizes persons as defined by their disabilities and as inferior to the non-disabled. On this basis, people are assigned or denied certain perceived abilities, skills, or character traits. Discrimination faced by those who have or are perceived to have a mental disorder is sometimes called mentalism rather than ableism.”

“Let's Call Joaquin Phoenix's New Role Exactly What It Is: Offensive

Director Gus Van Sant recently announced he is making a movie about disabled cartoonist John Callahan. “Great!” I thought at first. But unfortunately, the news isn’t good. Yet again a non-disabled actor, Joaquin Phoenix, has been cast in the role of a person with a disability. Despite activism from the disability community, including actors with disabilities demanding fair casting, this keeps happening over and over again. And this time it’s particularly offensive, because casting Joaquin Phoenix to play John Callahan goes against everything the artist represented.”

Do you think they should have cast a disabled actor? Do you think it was ableism to hire Phoenix? Is this even a big deal? Tell me your thoughts.