Alison Pill

Alison Pill Instagram – I just listened to the latest Radiolab episode that follows the work of Elsa Sjunnesson as she grapples with the legacy of the ableist idea of Helen Keller, and her actual self and work. It’s incredible. And it brought up so much that I’ve been grappling with in terms of my own past decisions and ableism. I was in a production of The Miracle Worker years ago, and took on the role of Annie Sullivan. It was a female-led creative team, it was on Broadway in the round, and I never questioned the validity of the endeavour or my own involvement. All I do now when I think of it is grow red with embarrassment and feel my pulse beat quicker. This wasn’t the first time that I had taken on a character with a disability (or, ashamedly, the last), but after listening to this episode and hearing Helen Keller’s actual words and her own story, I am struck by how the play skirts the depths of a Deafblind person’s experience, how this ‘wild animal’ must be tamed and conform to an ableist world. Helen Keller was beyond capable of telling her own story, of framing her own experience. But the world didn’t want to hear it. Instead, it chose a simplified saviour story, and I took that on. So what to do with this? Well, first, hire more performers with disabilities. But it’s not only that. Elsa Sjunnesson talks about her own horror story adaptation of The Miracle Worker at the end of the episode, and I have to say it sounds like a much better play. So it’s about performers, and it’s also about people telling their own stories instead of the ones the world deems fit to hear. It’s about making creative spaces accessible, in physical and emotional ways. It’s about an actual invitation to theatrical spaces, to film and TV sets, to positions of power. It’s about hiring performers with disabilities to play roles that don’t centre disability. It’s about a lot of things. Things that I will continue to work on and think about, because of the harm I’ve done and the privileges I take for granted. I’m deeply grateful to the people in my life who make these reflections possible, and look forward to learning and doing more. | Posted on 15/Mar/2022 06:01:49