(L-R): J.J. DiMeo (Micah Fowler), Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) and Maya DiMeo (Minnie Driver) in “B-O-N–BONFIRE.” Photo: American Broadcasting Companies
When Maya DiMeo (Minnie Driver) in ABC?s Speechless confronts her son?s newest principal, Dr. Miller, over the school?s lack of accessibility, she is a force. She takes one look at the ?wheelchair ramp? that her son is supposed to use (the rear exit used for garbage removal) and rips into Miller.
?It?s acceptable alternate access,? the principal responds sheepishly.
Maya then picks up a bag from the trash. ?Empty bag of manure,? she says. ?Trash, or person" Go!?It?s trash!? When Maya demands to know if Dr. Miller considers herself trash or a person, the principal stammers. Kenneth, the groundskeeper, sees her struggling. ?You?re a person, Dr. Miller,? he says incredulously. Maya, her arms outstretched, responds through gritted teeth, ?Of course you?re a person.? As a young disabled woman who was recently a disabled teenager, I know what it?s like trying to negotiate a world built for the nondisabled. And so does my mother. It was with this scene that Speechless?a show whose main character is a teen with cerebral palsy?won our hearts. ?It makes me feel not so ridiculous in how I pursued your rights in high school,? says my mom.
While my mother never reached the point of making an administrator question his or her own personhood, she did have my principal ducking into classrooms and offices whenev...