Casting a fresh eye over cripping up

How long before we start to view the performance of disability in the same way we now view blackface?

Photo credit: Zan Wimberley

Actor, dancer and filmmaker Daniel Monks is all too familiar with the invisibility of disability on our screens and stages.

‘Coming to terms with my disability, which I acquired at age 11, it had an impact on what I felt might be my place in society as a disabled person – because when we’re not seen and represented it invalidates us. It makes you feel so alone in your experiences,’ he said.

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Richard Watts OAM is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, a Melbourne Fringe Festival Living Legend, and was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize in 2020. In 2021 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Green Room Awards Association. Most recently, Richard received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in June 2024. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts