By: Faith Bryan
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 7/9/2024 – We have all seen them, the crutches, braces, canes, walkers, scooters and wheelchairs. These are the tools some people must use to be productive and happy in American society.
People with disabilities, seen and unseen, are very prevalent and we certainly notice them. In Southern California alone, more than 18,000 people are part of daily life in the Southland, and we see them in the grocery stores, doctors’ offices, shopping malls and workplaces every day.
But do we really see them, the people using those various mobility devices? And what about the disabilities we cannot see, like autism, or mental illness? We cannot always identify those afflicted with disabilities that are not visible.
As we move further into the 21st century, our marginalized communities are becoming a bigger part of the conversation, and those of us who struggle with disability are finally getting a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation.
Easterseals Southern California assists those with disabilities in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Imperial, Kern, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura counties. The organization has launched a provocative public service campaign, “D1$@B1L*tY is Not a Dirty Word,” which is opening eyes to the people who inhabit those mobility devices and who live with challenges unseen.
The campaign was launched July 1st in celebration of Disability Pride Month, and though it originated in the with Easterseals Southern California, this campaign is reaching across the land to help people conquer their fears of not knowing what to say, how to act or how to behave when in the company of people with disabilities.
Collaborating with people with disabilities, the parents of children with disabilities and employing people with disabilities for the production, the campaign features 11 people from all walks of life and with all types of disabilities, sharing their unique viewpoints.
Two of the people featured in the campaign – Dewayne Jackson and Andy Arias – recently joined Easterseals Southern California’s Kimberly Cohn for an exclusive chat with The Hollywood Times about the campaign.
Cohn said the campaign, like those the SoCal office has produced in the past, will be used by the National Easterseals organization, as well as the several regional offices around the country.
“We try to be very progressive in the way we message around disability and out mission,” she said. “So over the past years, we’ve done some pretty interesting ad campaigns. Our campaigns start here in Southern California, a huge media market, and then they expand across the U.S. via our Easterseals affiliates.”
Cohn pointed out there are more than 70 affiliates across the country and those affiliates Are given the campaign to showcase in their specific markets, so it gets spread across the country,
“It helps us push our messaging out to more than just our area,” she said.
Both of the young men who joined us for the interview spoke enthusiastically about the campaign and their parts in its creation. Dewayne “Insane Wayne” Jackson, who hails from Stockton, Calif., is a multi-talented actor, comedian, and barber, renowned for his incredible abilities and inspirational spirit. Dewayne has carved out a successful career in entertainment while embracing his disability with pride. In addition, he is a husband, father, and grandfather, roles in which he said he finds immense joy .
Jackson said he already is seeing some results, particularly among folks he knows in Southern California.
“For me, this campaign is dope,” he said. “Ever since it started. I have been having a lot of my friends who live in the L.A. area see the billboards and see the commercials. And they are like, ‘Man, dude, you are an inspiration. You’ve been in your chair and it seems like you just can’t stop moving around!’
“I’m handicapable, not handicapped, so I try to do as much as I can to inspire those who are in my situation and feel they have to stick to the stigma of being disabled. There’s a lot we can do!”
Andy Arias is Latinx and queer, and he is a faculty member at Georgetown University. Arias also is a motivational speaker who works on diversity, equity, and inclusion, specializing in national policy for marginalized communities, including those with disabilities.
Arias, who lives in Hollywood, said his hope is that people will learn that folks with disabilities are more than just that disability.
“Disability can happen to anyone at any time,” Arias said. “In a lot of ways, we look at disability as an us-versus-them scenario, like people without disabilities need t help people with disabilities, when it’s really all the same. We need to live in a world where we’re all equitable, we’re all included, we’re all able to have our voice, whether we’re queer/disabled, or we’re Black/disabled, Latinx/disabled … disability is often singularized as the one thing, but people with disabilities come from every background.”
Indeed, Jackson is doing it every day, participating in wheelchair basketball and wheelchair softball, as well as pursuing his acting and comedic dreams along with taking care of his family. Arias is working hard as well through his advocacy and work on a broad scale for both people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ communities.
As Jackson, Arias and the other nine people who are the face of this campaign demonstrate, the campaign has many points and is a way to change the conversation around those with disabilities, Cohn said.
“It is about pride and acceptance, but it also is about inclusion,” Cohn said. “I think that it touches on a lot of areas.“
The other people who are the face of this campaign are all Californians:
- Otto Lana, a poet, writer and actor from San Diego.
- Betty Partida from Van Nuys, who is vice-president of disability advocacy group Our Voices Matter.
- Kasey Galik, an adapted physical education specialist from San Marcos.
- Kennedy Garcia, a cancer survivor and actor with Down Syndrome, from Valencia.
- Mayito, a little person with Mulinrey syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, from Huntington Park.
- Trinity Robinson, who is 13 years old and deaf from Hesperia.
- Nik Sanchez, an actor, model and filmmaker with autism from Costa Mesa.
- Matthew Von Der Ahe, an actor and musician from Studio City.
- Jeffery Yip, also autistic and an advocate for the disabled, from Pasadena.
Danielle Hollobaugh, a blind singer/songwriter from Bradenton, Fla., is the campaign’s lone out-of-state participant.
Kimberly Cohn, Chief Marketing Communications Officer
We live in a world where our differences often divide instead of uniting us, where we whisper it or avoid it altogether, as if disability is a dirty word. For many, though, it’s a source of pride, part of being human, and for more than two percent of all U.S. residents, it’s a part of who we are.
This campaign truly is demonstrating that D1$@B1L*tY is Not a Dirty Word.” For more information about the campaign, go to Easterseals Southern California’s campaign website.
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