By MATTHEW DESSEMJAN 19, 201911:35 PM

In an interview with the Press Association, The Good Place actress Jameela Jamil said she turned down a recent offer to portray a deaf woman in hopes that a deaf actress would be cast in her place. Jamil made her comments in the wake of a conversation about disability representation sparked by Bryan Cranston’s role as a paralyzed man in The Upside. Although she didn’t name the project, Jamil explained why she turned down the role:

I said it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to take that role and they should find a brilliant deaf woman to play that role. I think you have to make those choices and not be too greedy and make space rather than take space. … I don’t want to be part of erasure.

Jamil’s comments mirror those made by Daily Show host Trevor Noah, who recently discussed the issue in a between-scenes conversation with his studio audience. Noah came down on the side of not taking roles that could go to an actor with a disability, although he credited his thoughts on the issue to an actor with a disability who he somehow never got around to naming … See full article at Slate