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AParish Laureate Film Producer Ken Ross is calling for more people with disabilities to be seen on TV and movie screens around the world. “If we never give these roles to individuals, we will never move forward. We don’t need to change people to be the part we want them to be, and we don’t need to worry about casting someone with a disability, ”he says. “You would never ask someone to ‘go black’ to play Nelson Mandela – so why ask an actor to ‘pose as a person with a disability’?”
Ross has spent the past two decades working with the UK government, NHS, Bafta and various other institutions to promote greater diversity and inclusion of people with disabilities. And while a lot has changed for the better (the Baftas and Oscars have recently revamped their demands for diversity, and actors such as Tommy Jessop, who has Down syndrome, are increasingly recognized in sector), much remains to be done. Ross says, “We need to make sales agents feel more comfortable showing films that have people with disabilities. And we also have to see people writing their own stories.
Today, although Covid-19 is preventing many TV and film projects from getting started, Ross, who is also a real estate investor, considered calls from producers and directors keen to recruit more actors with disabilities, including George Clooney , who talks with Ross about improving opportunities for people with Down syndrome across the industry. Ross’s last two projects, Innocence and My Feral Heart, both star actors with the disease, have won various international awards, with Innocence in the running for an Oscar this year.
“The producers call me up and say, ‘Look, I had a part written for this actor after seeing him in your movie and I was blown away,’ says Ross. Creating jobs for people with Down syndrome in the film industry is great for both raising awareness of the disease and showing that it can be viewed in a positive light, he adds. “When statistics show that only 6% of people with learning disabilities have paid work, it makes sense to create jobs in the film industry, where you can reach an audience of millions and encourage people to think a little more about how they can include others. “
Ross had a “revelation” about disability in 2004, he says, when his wife Rachael gave birth to their third son, Max, who has Down syndrome. At the time, the condition was still considered so taboo that even hospital staff were singled out for how they discussed it.
“I didn’t fully understand until Max was born just how excluded people with Down syndrome and other disabilities really are,” says Ross.
“Instead of celebrating our new baby, the doctor sought to highlight many of the fears and concerns that may be associated with any birth. So much knowledge about Down syndrome in the healthcare service has been gained through outdated anecdotes, false stereotypes and unwelcome assumptions about how lives are “valued”. “
Ross is a director and vice-chairman of the Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association, a charity Rachael co-founded in 2010 to fill the void of specialist support for families with children with the disease. While some organizations in the UK use the term Down syndrome to refer to the disease, Ross is very convinced that no apostrophe is needed and has asked the Guardian not to use it.
“Like many others, I don’t like ‘Down syndrome’ because it incorrectly implies that the doctor who first identified the disease, John Langdon Down, has it as well. I also think it may encourage the use of offensive terminology like “a person down”. Globally, the term ‘trisomy 21’ is now used more and more in place of Down syndrome, which I personally feel is more appropriate, and we may see a more significant change to this name at the to come up.
Over the past decade, the charity has provided hundreds of children with personalized learning at over 100 mainstream schools in Hampshire and beyond, while also training NHS professionals and teachers on diversity and inclusion.
“The goal is for society to understand that people with learning disabilities can lead semi-independent lives, make essential contributions and be valued members of their community – all while having the same hopes, dreams and aspirations as everyone, ”says Ross.
Much of the prejudice against people with Down syndrome dates back to “segregation” just a few decades ago, he says. In 1945 in the UK the life expectancy of a child born with Down syndrome was only 12 years, while until the 1970s it was still common for babies with Down syndrome to be transported directly from hospital to an institution. Today, around 40,000 people in the UK have Down syndrome and life expectancy exceeds 60 years, due to advances in medicine, as well as the fact that most children with the disease live today. ‘hui at home and can lead busy lives.
But there is still a long way to go in terms of policy, says Ross. “Down syndrome is the least funded, but most common chromosomal learning disorder in the UK, and there is [national] policy regarding the education or employment of people with Down syndrome. “
Covid-19, and its disproportionate effect on people with learning disabilities, has only underscored how skewed the system is, adds Ross: “The Covid-19 death rate for people with learning disabilities learning is six times the rate of the general population, and the [unlawful] The “do not resuscitate” orders that have been issued to people with learning disabilities are of great concern. All this only underscores the institutional bias that exists within the health service in favor of people with learning disabilities, either directly or indirectly.
Ross points to the current NHS prenatal screening offered to all pregnant women, which assesses a woman’s chances of having a baby with Down syndrome, as further evidence of this bias. It is estimated that 90% of women whose unborn babies are diagnosed with the disease continue to have an abortion, which is legal until birth.
“Why do you need to know if your baby is going to have Down syndrome or not?” asks Ross, who is lobbying parliament to end NHS testing on the grounds that it is harmful. “A life is a life, and the only difference with Down syndrome is that you have an extra chromosome and a learning disability. . Yet this screening program gives people the impression that they are not meant to be here.
Testing took center stage in a recent Emmerdale script, in which a couple chose to selectively abort their unborn child after learning the baby had Down syndrome. It drew hundreds of Ofcom complaints before it even aired and more than 31,000 people have since signed a petition calling on ITV to cancel the script.
“I have no doubt that if they had tried this scenario with another minority, they would have been shut down early,” says Ross.
“What I want to see on screen is someone with Down’s Syndrome as recognizable as Brad Pitt, just to open the doors to everyone. If one person can do it, anyone can follow. It is not impossible. “
Curriculum vitae
Age: 49.
Lives: Hampshire.
Family: Married and father of three sons.
Education: British School of Paris; University of Southampton (history and French); Southampton Institute (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants).
Career: 2011-present: director, RBH Group; 2019: producer, Innocence; 2018: executive producer, Scarborough; 2016: executive producer, My Feral Heart; 2012: executive producer, Gallowwalkers; 1998-2009: principal, various real estate companies; 2005: investor, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit; 2005: investor, Oliver Twist; 1994-1998: real estate agent, Black Horse Agencies.
Public life: 2009-present: strategist, director and vice-president, Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association; 2018-present: co-founder, National Policy Group for Down Syndrome; 2018-present: co-creator, Bafta diversity and inclusion panel; 2004-2009: fundraising and promoter, Down Syndrome Education International.
Interests: Family, inclusion, rugby, travel, cinema and television, history.
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