Apple’s institutional commitment to accessibility and assisted technologies is well known. But the company’s empathy for other people with disabilities is much more successful than the binary and zero values that make up the software. As an employer, Apple hires many other people with disabilities to paint on all aspects of operations. As such, painters with disabilities are represented in the efforts of diversity and inclusion of the company. Chief executive Tim Cook told me in an interview for TechCrunch in 2018 that the company believes that other people with disabilities are as marginalized and underrepresented as other minority groups, and that they seek to help.
This unwavering commitment to the disability network also extends to Apple’s TV streaming service, announced on a dazzling and star-rich occasion in March 2019 and officially unveiled last November. One of the launch series was Apple’s original See, the post-apocalyptic drama set in a world where everyone is blind and the view is almost heresy. The show, starring Jason Mamoa and Alfre Woodward, finished its first season on a high note. According to a deadline report last month, See won the Ruderman Family Foundation’s Seal of Authentic Representation Award for its “original representation of other people with disabilities.” For its part, Apple used the production of blind and visually impaired experts, adding Joe Strechay, to make some original representation of other blind and visually impaired people.
After See is the small voice supported by Sara Bareilles, Jessie Nelson and JJ Abrams, which premiered on television last Friday. The exhibition stars Brittany O’Grady as Bess, a talented singer-songwriter whose reluctance to conduct in public helps keep her bar attentive and walks her dogs as she struggles to fully realize her dream. Bess has an autistic brother, Louie, played by actor Kevin Valdez, himself autistic. Louie lives with other people (who also suffer from neurological disorders) in an organizational home, but aspires to live a more independent life; Meanwhile, she connects with her sister Bess through the music as she walks parallel paths to self-discovery.
“Bess likes independence for the first time, and I love that component of a young artist’s life, because a lot of things can go wrong,” Bareilles said of O’Grady’s main character in a recent interview with Variety. “It’s very satisfying to see you understand, be disjointed, think fast and make them work.”
Valdez’s role as Louie is different from that of Boba Voss de Mamoa in See, insofar as Mamoa is the main protagonist while Louie de Valdez is a supporting character. Where the two are very aligned lies in the vigour with which the characters are represented. In a medium where the ancient representation of disability presents itself as something to cry, complain and ultimately expire, See and Little Voice embraces it more as an integral component of a person’s identity. This is not a dying effect of bad circumstances; it is only a truth of life, a fiber of being.
Although O’Grady crowned the list in Little Voice, it was Louie de Valdez who gave the exhibition his soul. The undeniable camaraderie of the brother and sister is an example: the relationship between Bess and Louie and their respective origins is a microcosm of the most extensive theme of the exhibition. The exhibition corridors recognize Valdez’s impact. “Britain is the center of the series, but Kevin is the soul,” Nelson, an executive maker and co-creator of Little Voice, told me in a recent phone interview. (She also wrote and directed the first episode.)
Even before launching Valdez, Nelson said it was vital for her and for Bareilles to bring other neuroexpanded people to the stage. “We knew from the beginning that we were looking to engage the neuro-diverse community,” he said. She told me that the concept was that Louie would have an equivalent love for music and theatre like Bess, however, they sought the technique from another angle. Bareilles, meanwhile, had a close uncle with Down syndrome, which stimulied her to expand Louie’s character. In fact, Louie’s space is decorated with works of art made through his uncle. Nelson said Louie’s character’s attention came when she went to a room where, in between, she spoke to a gentleman who gave her “a 10-minute litany of all the Rent productions she saw.”
Nelson is extremely cheerful with the talent of Valdez and the actors who accompanied him, continually pointing out how much they played their characters without much desire for outdoor support. For Valdez, they had a spot on the board if he wanted it, but it turned out he didn’t want much.
“At the end of the first day of filming, I learned that Kevin was as smart as almost every actor I’ve worked with,” Nelson said. “He came here absolutely memorized, he understood each and every account of a scene, we may just have in-depth conversations about the character. There was no way Kevin would do this where he didn’t do the job.”
His compliment is also aimed at other disabled actors. Nelson just accommodating everyone. Valdez and the others joined their co-stars and did “an amazing job,” he said.
For his part, Valdez told me that he was informed in advance of the filming schedule and the itinerary. He also gets acquainted with where he will shoot and other details. “It’s not that hard for me to adapt to other places,” he said. His past delight in theatrical productions helped in his transition to Hollywood, he added.
Nelson and Valdez were especially pleased with the fact that everyone interested in the exhibition put disability at the forefront. From Apple to the other people of Bad Robot (Abram’s production company) and Bareilles, the constituent facet of Little Voice has been followed in all. Nelson noted that Apple was “100% favorable” and even “delayed twice the beginning of our series” so manufacturers can continue what has become a national search for an autistic actor to play Louie. It was imperative and meaningful for Nelson and his colleagues to locate others who would constitute Louie and his roommates in the most original way possible.
“They [neuro-diverse distribution] are an amazing organization of special -Array kids,” Nelson said. “My favorite moments on set were when we ran on the house’s organization stages. There was so much camaraderie and so much creativity and so many clever concepts flying around the room. It was a very clever power there.
Valdez agrees. “It’s a great honor to be at this exhibition and meet everyone at Apple, Bad Robot and Warner Brothers [the distribution company],” he said. “My parents were so struck by joy and joy. It was very touching for all of us in the Valdez family. Valdez also said they were”really doing their homework “to determine how productive they were to them if needed.
Valdez said his jump from theater to Hollywood was great, however, he is proud of his hard paintings and hard paintings, and is excited about the effects he can have on the audience. He told me that he believes his presence in Little Voice can be an inspiration to others like him who see it on screen. “I can be described as a very smart style to get things done and motivate others to achieve their goals as well,” he said.
He continued: “Even minorities [people with disabilities], we can do what we want.”
As for the future, Nelson told me that Louie (and his roommates) would continue on Little Voice if Apple picked him up for a moment in the season. In the meantime, it strongly supports the concept that more manufacturers and managers are in favor and hire actors like Valdez for roles.
If there’s one common thread between Nelson and Valdez’s emotions and Apple’s vision of disability and diversity, it’s that other people with disabilities can and do access to everything. People with disabilities deserve to be realistically represented in Hollywood, just as they deserve equivalent access to an iPhone, MacBook, or Apple TV. It’s also revealing (though not surprising) that Apple leads the rate here. As they have for many years with its products, Apple takes its long-standing accessibility sensibility and applies it to its young video streaming service. In this sense, the company treats television like any other product. Given the state of disability in Hollywood, it is highly recommended that society does not have one, but two main screens that deal with disability awareness in one way or another. The ethics here are generally Apple’s, and optics are incredibly vital to the community of people with disabilities.
The first 3 episodes of Little Voice are now available in the Apple TV app. New episodes will fall every Friday.
Steven is a freelance tech journalist based in San Francisco, CA. He covers all things accessibility. What makes his coverage unique is the fact he is disabled—this
Steven is a freelance tech journalist based in San Francisco, CA. He covers all things accessibility. What makes his coverage unique is the fact he is disabled—this firsthand knowledge lends instant credibility and allows him to write about assistive technology authoritatively. Steven’s work has appeared in such publications as iMore, TechCrunch, and Macworld. He’s also appeared on podcasts, NPR, and Cheddar TV.