ABC: I can’t thank you enough.

Growing up, I barely saw anyone like me on television. The first disabled character I remember seeing is a blind character in “Arthur.” When I saw her for the first time in the show when I was around 8-10, I was fascinated by her. I clearly knew about blind people, but I never saw someone blind on television before. Next, like all mid-2000s tweens, I watched “The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.” In one episode, Zack and Cody played basketball again a Special-Olympics basketball team. I was so excited because these were characters that were so much like me. Plus, I played Special-Olympics basketball at that time. But, as I grew up in high school and college when I wanted to be an actress, I realized that there was really no disabled actors nor characters on television, besides “Glee”and “Switched at Birth.” Most importantly, there were barely cerebral palsy actors on television, besides RJ Mitte from “Breaking Bad.”And where were shows about cerebral palsy? Are we not important enough? That’s where “Speechless” comes in. When I heard about it, I nearly cried tears of joy. I nearly cried again when I saw the show on Wednesday. Finally, I was on TV. No. Let me change that: My family and I were on TV.

1. J.J DiMeo

I bonded with J.J DiMeo (played by Micah Fowler, who can actually talk in real life) right away. This show perfectly captures what we, people with cerebral palsy, go through or went through when we were younger. At his new school, Micah is treated badly. He needs a ramp to enter his school. But, the only ramp that the school has is the garbage ramp. At my old college, UMBC, the disabled ramp to the arts building (I used to be a graphic design major) was closed for construction, so I had go to the long way to get into the art building or even other buildings, making me exhausted. Additionally, the elevators were always broken, making me late to class because a random person or I had to drag my heavy rolling bag up the stairs 1-3 floors up.

I got a lot of special treatment during places. When the obnoxious translating woman came on, my mom and I were dying with laughter because it was so true. When I was little, my physical or speech therapists and random strangers babied me with their voices. When I was 5, I liked it. But, when I was older, I felt insecure about it.

Another part that I howled at was the over-the-top reaction when J.J entered his classroom. When he entered the room, the teacher and the students immediately treated him like a god, giving him a standing ovation, cheering for him, calling him a inspiration, and making a banner for him for Class President. My schoolmates and teachers did the same thing to me. For example, every year in my school, there was a National Geographic bee. So, in fifth grade, my teacher gave everyone hard questions, but she gave me literally the easiest questions. No, seriously a six year old could answer them. So, I was the winner of my 5^th grade class. My classmates pretended to be enthusiastic, but I knew they were beyond furious. By the way, when the school-wide National Geographic bee came the next day, guess who was the very first one to be eliminated? Take a wild guess.

Additionally, out of kindness and pity (and I thank my classmates from elementary/middle school so much for it!), my classmates gave me special treatment. When we played kickball during PE and I was up, everyone literally went “slow-motion,” so I can do a home run. At first that time, it was so sweet. Then, I got secretly so annoyed with it, but went along with it anyway. Every time I would tell a story I made for an English class, I get cheers and even standing ovations, even though my stories were about princesses majority of the time. Again, appreciated the gestures, but I was still annoyed. I even remember one time when I was playing basketball with the popular girls during recess, I turned away to see my best friends and the girls went, “Oh my god! Emily, you scored! Oh my god!” The basketball actually hit the ground. I went along with it anyway.

From the first episode, I can already tell that J.J will fight for people to not baby him and it’s great. Society needs that lesson. We are not objects of pity, we’re just people that are different.

2. Maya DiMeo

Every time Maya (Minnie Driver) came on screen, I immediately saw my mom for many, many reasons. But, the main reason is because like Maya, my mom is fiercely defensive of my cerebral palsy when she needs to. The opening scene to the pilot when Maya reveals J.J to the old woman who accused of her stealing a disabled parking spot makes me think of the same scenario that happened to me. One day, my mom and I were at the mall and we were looking for a disabled spot to park in. A car had a disabled spot that was closer to the mall entrance, but the two teenagers were totally normal looking. I was also upset by this, so I told my mom to ask her why she was there. The teenage driver was screaming at my mom, so my mom was furious and had to mention my cerebral palsy and why we deserved it more than them.

A scene that moved me was the ramp scene because Maya was a force to be reckoned with in that scene. She asks the principal and the janitor (who becomes J.J’s speaker) if her son is a human being with dignity or trash and throws trash at them. Her sensitivity in that scene reminds me of an incident earlier this year. When I was voting for the presidential nominee, there was a huge misunderstanding with the place where I’m supposed to be at to vote. It’s a very long story, so I’ll get to the point. My mom accused the place to be disablist to me because I needed an ID (a part of the long story). She was yelling and fighting with them to let me vote with an ID, threatening to call the news. I think she was nearly in tears. She was shaken up.

I feel like if Maya was real, she and my mom would be the best of friends. Maya teaches the audience how to not treat disabled people and she is such an important character.

3. Ray DiMeo

Finally: The younger son, Ray. In the show, Ray struggles with the move because they have done this a million times, so they can get the best treatment for J.J. He is frustrated at his mom because he never pays attention to him, just J.J. These are my four older siblings. What I have done throughout my life affect them in a frustrating way. These last four years, it has been driving. Like J.J possibly, I can’t drive due to my disability. Because of my dad’s 3 years-and-counting struggle with cancer, my mom needs to always stay with my dad and therefore, we need to rely on my quadruplet siblings to drive me. This fall, they need to drive me to physical therapy, my job at the mall, my internship, and my daily theatre rehearsal. Sounds exhausting, right? Imagine how they feel. Having to giving up their time and even lives for me, like Ray. My siblings sometimes go along with it, but sometimes they’re furious at me, calling me selfish and inconsiderate, which really hurts me. And I am even madder they need to take me because I really hate stealing time from them. If I could drive, all problems would be solved. If my siblings ever watch “Speechless,” they will love Ray a lot because he gets the struggle.

Overall, “Speechless” is special because it gets the disabled family: The disabled person, the zealous “mama bear,” and the siblings who feel underappreciated and alone. It totally gets disability representation right. It totally gets disability problems right. It gets the family right. Wake up, media. This is an all-American family! Don’t be scared of it.

And yes, actors with cerebral palsy do exist! RJ Mitte exists. Micah Fowler exists. Geri Jewell exists. Josh Blue exists. I exist! This show opens doors for disabled actors like me and I can’t be more thrilled. I sent my resume and headshot in with the casting team, so hopefully I’ll get something in this show.

ABC, I’m begging you. Please don’t cancel “Speechless.” Disabled actors need this. The disabled community needs this. Disabled families need this. Disabled children especially need this. Everyone needs this to become aware of cerebral palsy and other disabilities. This is the show we were waiting for. Thank you, ABC. Thank you.

-A girl with cerebral palsy