What do you feel about characters with disabilities being played by able-bodied actors?

    I sometimes don't mind.


    I watched a kdrama short time ago called "Page turner", which had a character who turns blind in the first episode.

    I probably have no rights to say it because of me not being blind, but I didn't mind that it was played by an able-bodied actress.


    I'm probably also going to watch Twinkling Watermelon, which has deaf characters.

    I heard that one of the actors had practiced sign language for that role.


    For kdramas though, I don't think I have ever seen an actor with a disability playing roles like that.

    I have heard that Oh Jung Se, who played an autistic character in It's Okay Not To Be Okay, actually has prosopagnosia. (which is considered being neurodiverse)


    Speaking of autism, as an autistic person, I don't feel offended by non-autistic actors playing autistic ones. (some autistics might find it more offensive than I do)

    Even though most of the times autistic characters seem to be some social awkward, but smart white males.

    Music is an offensive movie that I refuse to watch though. (mostly because of the horrible "advice" of what to do when an autistic has a meltdown...)

    And according to some video essay, I came across, Atypical made talking about hyperfixations seem like a bad thing. (Extraordinary Attorney Woo can't relate)


    I haven't watched Extraordinary Attorney Woo (because I don't have Netflix), but I have watched a lot of scenes from it.

    And I don't find it offensive, even though Youngwoo from the drama maybe seems like a female lawyer version of Park Shion from Good Doctor. (I did like that kdrama, when I watched it for the first time)

    Lee Junho is my ideal type though and when he told her that he would want to be her hugging chair, I felt joy. (this sounds weird out of context lol)



    But well... I have often noticed that whenever an able-bodied or neurotypical actor plays a neurodiverse character or a character with a disability, they end up winning an award for best actor or actress.

    I guess people at award shows think that these roles might be difficult and that you have to be a good actor to be able to do a good job at it.

    It has happened three times though that an actor with a disability has won an oscar.


    I might add more to this thread, but I made this thread when I was supposed to go to sleep.

  • AllKill VIP

    It's called acting for a reason.

    An actor's job is pretending to be someone or something they're not. That's the whole point.

    If a suitable actor with a matching disability can be found to play the part, then by all means, they should be hired, but the notion that only a disabled actor should play a disabled character, only a gay man be allowed to play a gay man etc. is ludicrous.

    Where does that lead us if we follow through with this idea? Do we send people out into space to find friendly aliens to star in the next scifi blockbuster? Do we require actors to actually sustain injuries in car accidents because merely pretending to have been in a car crash might be offensive to genuine crash victims? Should actors still be allowed to dye their hair or should we ensure that people who are naturally dark haired/blonde/red haired get the part? How far do we take this and where do we draw the next arbitrary line?


    Just hire the actor who does the best job and let them do said job.

    Quote from HwaGoose

    Well... I haven't watched Glee or at least much of it, but I know that there is this scene where he has a dream that he is being able-bodied and dancing in a mall.
    And I can't imagine that happening if the actor was actually paraplegic.

    Bruh there is a scene in a dance sequence where they throw him into a pool

    Glee was wild af

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