The entertainment community prides itself on taking the lead in advocating for social change; consider its threat to curtail film and television projects in Georgia due to their laws limiting women's access to abortion. Racial, gender, ethnic and cultural diversity are now acknowledged as worthy ambitions for popular entertainment.
By contrast, when it comes to Hollywood's portrayal of characters with disabilities, history has told anything but an uplifting and prosocial narrative. But the entertainment industry is beginning to write a new script on inclusion, a development that is strongly underscored by NBCUniversal's recent acceptance of the Ruderman Family Foundation guidelines on opening auditions to actors with disabilities.