Sara Novic is a Deaf writer and assistant professor of creative writing at Stockton University. Her first novel, “Girl at War,” was released by Random House in 2015. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. The Deaf community uses a capital “D” to differentiate between people who identify with Deaf culture and identity, and the physical lack of hearing. The next episode in the third season of CNN’s “United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell” is about the disability community, which airs on Sunday, May 20 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

(CNN)The 90th annual Academy Awards are nearly here, and one of this year’s front-runnersfor best picture is Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water.” Sally Hawkins, as the mute Elisa who falls in love with a sea creature, has scored a best actress nomination for the role.Critics have been quick to declare the film a positive representation of disability — Elisa is employed, independent and a sexual being, a rarity for a group of people often portrayed in movies and books as childlike and asexual. Then again, the only one who finds her sexually desirable is a semi-human sea creature. 

Sara NovicAlso problematic is Hawkins’ American Sign Language, her only mode of communication in the film, which is abysmal — halting, stilted and not at all like someone who’d been signing since she was a child. It’s no secret Hollywood has a representation problem. The film industry has been repeatedly called out in the media, and by some of its own, for its whitewashing on-screen and sexism behind the camera. Much less attention is paid to the equally prevalent problem of casting abled actors in the role of disabled characters, a phenomenon the disabled community calls “cripping up.” When disabled people do raise the issue, they are quickly silenced, accused of overreacting. But representation matters. We learn about the world around us from film, and without the inclusion of disabled people, abled actors and directors will continue to perform tired stereotypes, while the absence of real disabled people further perpetuates the stigma of our inferiority, that we are too grotesque for the screen, or not worthy of a place on it. 

The rights of disabled Americans are under attackDespite the rich tradition of Deaf storytelling and theater showcased by award-winning companies such as the National Theatre of the Deaf and Deaf West Theatre, Hollywood has an equally longstanding tradition of forgoing deaf actors for hearing ones, even for signing and/or deaf characters. And “The Shape of Water” isn’t the only example of this.In the last three years alone, five other hearing actors have portrayed deaf or signing characters, including Julianne Moore in “Wonderstruck,” Kate Siegel in “Hush,” Jacob Tremblay in “Shut In,” Tessa Thompson in “Creed” and Catalina Sandino Moreno in “Medeas.” And this is to say nothing of the abled actors cast as characters with other kinds of disabilities, including Tremblay in “Wonder,” Alec Baldwin in “Blind,” Jake Gyllenhaal in “Stronger,” Andrew Garfield in “Breathe” and Bryan Cranston in “The Upside” — and that’s just in 2017. At their core, these casting choices are a classic failure of imagination. Even as filmmakers seek to tell diverse stories, they continue to make casting and production choices out of convenience and fear. By refusing to work with disabled actors, they avoid anything that might force them to stray too far from the stereotypes so ingrained in our culture. 

Where we’ve failed to live up to the promise of the Americans with Disabilities ActAnd Hollywood’s failures of imagination have a trickle-down effect. Rather than take a moment to listen to the Deaf/disabled community about why we are upset, abled viewers accuse us of overreaction and align themselves with the able-bodied offender. See full article at CNN