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My guest today is Taylor Lewis who is an editor, writer, and disability advocate. He recently wrapped working as an Editorial PA on the Netflix feature film, Rebel Moon. But most of our conversation today focuses on Taylor's advocacy for disability representation in every level of the entertainment industry so they can share their perspective in life. Taylor believes that the best story to tell about a person with a disability is one that focuses on what they do as a human being with the disability being secondary.

In our conversation, Taylor tells his story about how he got into the entertainment industry by turning down an entry-level job because he believes it was offered to him out of 'charity' (by the way, did I mention that he has his own unique disability that you’ll hear him talk about?). We also deep dive into the different definitions of the word 'disability' and how some disabilities exist simply through the systems we put in place. Taylor believes that accommodating disabled people at every level not only benefits them, but it benefits all of us.

I encourage you to listen to my conversation with Taylor as his views on representation and his advocacies will ask you to consider that in some contexts, everyone has a disability and a disability can also be a superpower.

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Here's What You'll Learn:

Taylor’s perspective on the best way to tell the story of someone with a disability
Why entry-level jobs are often inappropriate for people with physical disabilities
How to properly define disability by taking in social, economic, physical, and mental factors
Why context can turn a disability into a superpower
Why are people with disabilities portrayed by able-bodied people in films
What Taylor believes is more important than winning awardsHow can accommodating people with disabilities benefit everybody
How you can help advocate for people with disabilities

Useful Resources Mentioned:

The Peanut Butter Falcon

1in4 Coalition

Jack Thorne

Group Effort Initiative

Inevitable Foundation

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Guest Bio:

taylor-lewis-bio Taylor Lewis

Taylor Lewis started his career in post-production for advertising and documentaries. He recently decided to make the jump to feature films and is currently working as an Editorial PA on a Netflix feature film. Taylor also does disability content consulting for ad agencies, gives presentations about disability representation in media, and runs the Instagram account @disabilitycallsheet highlighting disabled actors.

Show Credits:

This episode was edited by Curtis Fritsch, and the show notes were prepared by Debby Germino and published by Glen McNiel.

The original music in the opening and closing of the show is courtesy of Joe Trapanese (who is quite possibly one of the most talented composers on the face of the planet).

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