Michael Dougherty is an Irish New Yorker with spina bifida who lives and works in Los Angeles. A member of the WGA’s Writers with Disabilities Committee, he is also the writer/director of Look Around, a PSA produced by the WDC meant to encourage disability inclusion in media. None of what he creates is his parents’ fault. You can follow him on twitter @mjdougherty930.
I was born with spina bifida and I love movies. These things have always been true. Yet, I never saw myself much on movie screens, unless you count something like Forrest Gump. My lumping myself in with a character who, in fact, is mentally challenged, is purposeful, because it seems both audiences and creatives alike put people like me in to ...