Sammi Haney - Hollywood Is Just Starting To Be More Inclusive Of People With Disabilities And I Hope To Prove That We Deserve A Chance To Be Cast In More Shows & Movies (Actor, USA)

 

You don’t need to change who you are, you just need to be yourself. 

1. Tell us about your background and journey.  

My name is Sammi Haney, I am 10 years old and from San Antonio, TX. I have Osteogenesis Imperfecta Type 3 Severe. It is a brittle bone condition that means my bones break very easily, I have broken hundreds of bones from simple things like moving around while I sleep to sneezing. I have metal rods in my arms, legs, back and left hip.  

2. Did you ever think or dream of being an actor? 

I love watching TV shows and movies on my iPad, and wondered what it would be like to be in one, and one day my Mom told me about a casting call for a role that was perfect for me. It was for Esperanza in Raising Dion, an 8 year old sassy, smart girl who is a wheelchair user.

So we responded to the casting call, shot the audition in my room, and ended up getting the part! They said my audition was the only one that made everyone in the room laugh. 

3. How can one approach their career and have the confidence and belief to become an actor? 

You don’t need to change who you are, you just need to be yourself. People in casting want to see what you uniquely bring to the role, so don’t be shy about bringing your own personality into the character. 

4. How did you manage to make it in this tough and high pressure cine field in spite of your disability(Brittle Bone Disease)? 

Netflix has been very inclusive in their approach to my character. They wanted to cast Esperanza authentically (cast an actor who is a real wheelchair user), and have done everything possible to keep me safe while on set (from renting a mobility van for me, adding ramps everywhere, and making sure I feel safe at all times). 

Hollywood is just starting to be more inclusive of people with disabilities and I hope to prove that we deserve a chance to be cast in more shows and movies!  

5. What challenges did you face? What motivated you to make a difference?

The biggest challenge to actors with disability is ableism (discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that they are less than others). Our roles are often given to able-bodied actors. 

When I got the part, we were told by an ally, that people in the industry (I don’t know who) that knew about the part from knowing someone working on the show Raising Dion, that they had said to this ally, “There is no such thing as a funny 8 year old girl who uses a wheelchair, you are going to have to get an 11 or 12 year old girl and have her fake using a wheelchair.” Well, I hope I have proved people with that type of ableism wrong. 

I want to use what little star power I have, to be a good representative for the disability community, that matters more to me than getting another big role. I had a major network reach out to me (not Netflix, and not Disney - I will be on an upcoming Disney show!), wanting me to star in a new show, but the role and script was full of all of the common stereotypes about people with disabilities, and had a lot of ableism in it. 

I kindly but sternly sent back some major script revisions to make it acceptable for me to be in, and asked for them to involve a consultant from the disability community to oversee the scripts, and we never heard back from them again. 

However, the next time they sent out a casting call, they had changed the description of the character and removed all of the things I said were offensive. 

I want it to be normal for people with disabilities to be in TV shows and movies, instead of the exception. 

6.Throw some light on your shirts for people with disabilities.

My dad was trying to find some cool disability themed T-shirts for me to wear and he couldn’t find any (and a lot of T-Shirts that he did find were more making fun of people with disabilities). 

So we started Disability Shirts or people with disabilities (and their parents and supporters) with a theme of spreading awareness, acceptance, and love for the disability community. 

My dad is a graphic designer and makes the designs and we only sell the ones that I personally approve! Recently we have added a lot of very colorful apparel with repeating patterns Disability Shirts.

7. What is your long term plan/ future plans?  

I plan to keep acting, I will be on a new unannounced Disney show (as I mentioned above), but want to attend college when the time comes. I also hope to start a guinea pig rescue when I am older. 

8. Which is your favorite book and why? 

My favorite book is any of the Garfield books. I love cats, we have 6 cats living in our house, so I really enjoy Garfield. It is one of the first comics I ever read, and would stay up late at night reading them, and seeing what he was going to do next to try to get some lasagna. 

- Sammi Haney

- Instagram: Sammi Haney

- Website: Sammi Haney

- Interviewed By Pearlina Marie Rein