We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jennifer Kumiyama. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jennifer below.
Alright, Jennifer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?
As a singer and actress with a disability, I truly feel that the way our community is portrayed in the media is very flat and limited. We are often portrayed as being in need, or a burden, and what is shown to society by this limitation is that our disabilities are the center of our lives. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. People with disabilities are dynamic, and we intersect with every other marginalized (and not) aspect of life (we are immigrants, queer, black, brown and indigenous, trans, parents, employees, business owners, homeless, etc.) and that, in itself, gives us far more depth that writers, producers, and creative teams give us, as a people, credit for. I’d like to see a lot more range in the way stories about people with disabilities are created and told.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I was born with Arthrogryposis and use a motorized wheelchair for 100% of my daily mobility needs. I am a queer Asian, Pacific Islander and Black woman. As disability activist for over two decades, my work began in 2002 when I was cast in Disney’s “Aladdin; a Musical Spectacular” at Disney California Adventure Theme Park, where I was the first performer in a wheelchair to ever be on any Disney stage in the world. I used her performing platform at Disney to compete and earn the title of Ms. Wheelchair California 2010 where I promoted empowerment for youth with disabilities, speaking throughout the state of California and the nation during my reign. Other credits include ‘The Sessions’, MTV’s ‘awkward.’, and ‘Celebrity Undercover Boss’. Recently, I can be heard as the voice of ‘Dahlia’ in Disney’s animated feature film, ‘WISH’.
I am the founder of Long Beach Disability Pride, an annual event that celebrates the intersectional beauty of the disabled community and centers disabled joy. I am currently a Communication Studies major at California State University Long Beach and serve as Citywide Accessibility Coordinator at the City of Long Beach.
In my free time, I teach voice lessons privately, and volunteer at a high school drama program. I really enjoy being able to empower young people who are looking to be in the entertainment industry by sharing my personal journey in this industry as a person with a disability and showing them the value in themselves.
The industry itself continues to take small steps in moving inclusion forward for me and my community and we have to demand more. People with disabilities make up 20% of the world’s population and yet – of the 3% of the roles that call for disabled actors, 95% of those roles continue to be portrayed by non-disabled actors. It is past time that the industry create real opportunity for the disabled community, and at the very least cast people with real life disability experience in these roles.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Imposter syndrome is so real for people in the industry with disabilities because there are so few of us. For me, unlearning what the industry continues to indirectly tell us by not providing ample opportunity, which is – we don’t belong here, continues to be something I battle with. This stems from growing up in a world that is not, and continues not to be, built for people with disabilities to thrive. When I think about it, my community is in constant battle of fighting for equitable access to all aspects of life. This really does harm to how we view ourself worth – if society does not value us enough to acknowledge the mere fact that we exist, then why/how can we do that for ourselves? I have to remember that I deserve every opportunity presented to me, that I belong at every table I’m invited to and if I’m not invited to that table, that I deserve to show up anyway. I owe it to myself and to my community to be vocal, demand more, and to proud of who I am, what I look like – disabled, brown, fat body and all.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
This world is in such turmoil, that finding pockets of peace and happiness is something that is becoming increasingly more difficult. The most rewarding aspect of being creative is the joy I get to bring other people, even if it is for a very short period of time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/jenniferkumiyama
- Instagram: @kumirocks
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferkumiyama/
