Storying disability on-screen: Disabled creators serve disabled audiences

In this article, we present findings from the first national study of disability in the Australian screen industry, based on a survey of over 500 workers and interviews with eleven screen workers. While the research focused on workforce conditions, disabled participants consistently framed their creative practice as inseparable from serving their disability community. They positioned disabled viewers as both an under-recognized market and a diverse cultural community. We examine how disabled screen workers connect labour, authentic on-screen representation and audience reception in a collective process of narrating disability identity and community. Participants highlight pervasive inauthentic portrayals and the missed commercial and cultural opportunities of engaging the disability community. Meaningful inclusion in a just and representative screen industry requires recognizing the disability community as both creators and audiences.