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 is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts