By now, most of you have already heard and gushed about actress Ali Stroker’s Tony win this past Sunday at the 73rd annual Tony Awards. Stroker made history by being the first female actress with a physical disability to win the award for her role as Ado Annie in the Broadway revival of “Oklahoma!” While this is an amazing accomplishment for Stroker and the disability community, unfortunately, Stroker’s win isn’t my reality.
While giving her acceptance speech, she said, “This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation or a challenge, who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena — you are.” Sorry, but I’m not. Fifteen percent of people living in this world have some form of disability. We are all different.
I am not an actress nor do I plan to be, so it’s safe to say that I won’t be winning a Tony anytime soon. My issue isn’t with her win. It’s with the fact that whenever a person with a disability accomplishes something on a grand scale where mainstream media can see and voice their opinions, they always group people with disabilities together. There’s this mentality of if one wins, we all win. However, that’s not true.
I can’t stress this enough; people with disabilities are all different. Ali Stroker accomplished that Tony win not me or any other person with a disability. Maybe it did spark a hint of inspiration for people with and without disabilities, and I am not trying to take away from that, but I am a 31-year old African American female with Cerebral Palsy. How does Ali Stroker’s Tony win represent me?
People with disabilities face hardships every day, and we continue to fight. We also have successes that should be celebrated. We do amazing things that’s not always highlighted, but that doesn’t make it any less important or make us any less proud. When people with disabilities can be treated as equal to people without disabilities, and when our everyday living can be made accessible and represented as close to the ADA as possible, then that’s something that mainstream media can say this is a win for people with disabilities.
While I do feel that this necessary change will be unlikely, it doesn’t hurt to speak up about the injustices within the disability community. Moreover, any of you who may read this might say I’m bitter, and that’s okay. Hopefully, my writing this has made you stop and think and realize two things: one, people with disabilities exist, and two, all we want is equality.
Once again, I would like to stress that Ali Stroker’s win does not represent all people with disabilities. This win represents her, and I would like to congratulate her on this monumental moment in her life.
Morgan Lee Reviews 
Interesting perspective. What if the comment was related to race instead of a disability…would you feel the same? First Black woman to ‘xxx’ or age? Youngest person to… Would you feel a connection?
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I would. It is fantastic that celebrities achieve their goals and possibly become a representation for individuals who would like to attain that, but not everyone can achieve that same success. Everyone has a purpose, and regardless of race or disability, it’s unlikely that you will encounter someone that you feel represents you completely.
There have been several speeches I’ve watched where a celebrity has stated ‘this is for so and so…’ or ‘if I can do it, then so can you.’ Truth is, not everyone can, and not everyone is meant to follow that same path/achieve that same level of success.
So if Ali Stroker were African American, I would feel the same because no one person’s story is the same. We are all different.
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