The Emmys: Seeing Hispanics in Hollywood

Posted by Elena del Valle on November 2, 2016

By Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi*
President, respectabilityusa.org

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi President, respectabilityusa.org

Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, president, respectabilityusa.org

For the first time in history, a TV show staring people with disabilities has been nominated for an Emmy Award– and one of the stars, Cristina, is Hispanic! The glass ceiling-breaking show is Born This Way, A&E Network’s critically acclaimed and award-winning original docuseries which airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. EST. Born This Way was nominated for Outstanding Unstructured Reality Program. In addition, two episodes were nominated for Outstanding Picture Editing for an Unstructured Reality Program.

The show documents real life as Cristina and her fiancée Angel continue to look forward to their wedding, but have a lot of life skills to master before they are ready to live on their own. Produced by Bunim/Murray Productions, the series follows a group of seven young adults with Down syndrome along with their family and friends in Southern California. Recently, the series was chosen as one of six honorees for the 2016 Television Academy Honors, an award that recognizes television programming that inspires, informs and motivates. That was a wonderful award. However, the Emmys also really matter. Until now, no series starring people with disabilities of any background has ever been nominated for an Emmy Award — and Born This Way includes positive images of Hispanic Americans. We know that actress Michelle Rodriguez has ADD (attention deficit disorder) and superstar Selma Hayek has dyslexia. It is really important when people with disabilities can be seen by the abilities they have.