Disability as Diversity: Round Peg, Round Hole?

HBO recently announced the upcoming launch of its HBO Access Writing Fellowship, inviting emerging writers from diverse backgrounds to apply. According to HBO’s announcement, if accepted, the person would be given the “opportunity to attend a week of master classes… [and] then enter into an 8-month writing phase, where he/she would be partnered with an HBO Development executive and guided through the script development process.”

From my perspective, this sounded like the perfect opportunity for a young, disabled writer to be given an opportunity to share their perspective on a larger scale. The world needs to hear more of our stories- the real stories of our everyday lives. However, after a little closer research, HBO defines “diversity” as: “those who identify as any of the following: Asian Pacific, Sub-Continent Asian, African American, Hispanic, Native American, Middle Eastern, and/or women.”

Which brought me to ask: Do disabled people contribute to the world’s diversity?

According to Dictionary.com, “diversity” is defined as:

1. The state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness
2. Variety; multiformity
3. The inclusion of individuals representing more than one national origin, color, religion, socioeconomic stratum, sexual orientation, etc.
4. A point of difference.

It seems to me that “disability” fits neatly into each of those definitions, as disability means: “difference” and “unlikeness” from the majority; disability means having many forms or kinds, so it fits with multiformity; disability can be found in every national origin, color, religion, socioeconomic stratum, sexual orientation, and, most definitely, the “etc” part; and disability is a point of difference. It appears that we may not fit into many round holes, but we most definitely fit in THIS one. You simply could not ask for a group to better fit into a definition.

If this is what diversity means, then why does it matter? What is the big deal with diversity anyway? Is this “diversity” thing just some kind of fad?

Including variety and difference in any sort of opportunity is important for its own sake because exclusion is obviously unfair to those that are “different.” However, in the context of HBO’s Fellowship, the importance of diversity runs even deeper. Having different sorts of identities impacts how you see the world and what stories you are able to tell. It’s important for media and entertainment to tell everyone’s story and not just regurgitate the mainstream point of view.  Disability needs to be a part of this larger fabric of stories. Thus, HBO should include disability as an important piece in its definition of diversity. It wouldn’t be too late for HBO to make up for this error and include us in its definition.

While I don’t agree with HBO’s narrow definition of diversity, I do believe that the disabled women and people of color who are eligible should apply. After all, there is diversity within the disability community itself and all of our stories need to be told. In fact, while it would have been important for HBO to explicitly include disability in its definition of diversity, many members of our community are positioned to contribute unique stories at the intersections of disability and these other identities.

Maybe the problem is in offering any sort of rigid definition of ‘diversity’ at all, because, again, someone will always be forgotten and excluded.  What the world needs now is not more of the same, but more difference, so that we can begin accepting it, one story at a time.