Ableism At 360° (Exclusion in “The Circle”)

A reality show I absolutely love watching is The Circle.

My issue with it is there are no wheelchair users shown - particularly in each group of contestants.

In almost every, if not actually every, season the cast has been from America and England. I personally find it incredibly hard - if not COMPLETELY impossible - to believe that no wheelchair users applied to be on The Circle. (I know for a fact that there are A TON of wheelchair users in each country.)

In season five, The Circle had a deaf activist contestant.

I absolutely adore her. As a hard-of-hearing disability activist I felt incredibly excited, proud, and seen.

Also, that representation is INCREDIBLY important. It’s INCREDIBLY important for people to see other people like them on screen. It’s important for people to see what might be possible for themselves. It’s also necessary to acknowledge disabled people in general exist in this world.

With all that being said, I am also a wheelchair user. And, in that way, I feel incredibly lonely, unheard, and unseen when it comes to watching The Circle.

Wheelchair users exist and we should be shown on camera.