We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cassidy Huff a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cassidy, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I first knew that I wanted to be a performer at the age of four.

I had my Make-A-Wish when I was four, and I chose to meet the band Rascal Flatts. Originally, my Wish was to just have an eat and greet with my favorite member of the band, meet the whole band, take some pictures and attend the concert. But my four-year-old brain had a different idea! As soon as I met the lead singer, the first question I asked was if I could sing on stage with them. Not knowing how to say no to a small child, the band and the rest of the adults in the room scrambled to figure out how to make this happen for me.

We were escorted to our seats to watch the concert, and about halfway through the show, I was pulled up on stage to sing the song “My Wish” with the band in front of 17,000 people. While I was having my moment in the spotlight (quite literally) with thousands of people cheering for me, I remember thinking to myself: “This is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life!” And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the last 15 years!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Cassidy Huff and I am a singer, standup comedian, content creator, disability rights activist, writer, actress, voice-over artist, dancer, and best-selling author based in Los Angeles, California!

I was born with a very rare genetic type of dwarfism called Conradi-Hunermann Syndrome. It affects everything in my body. I am blind out of my right eye, deaf out of my left ear, my entire right side is approximately five inches shorter than my left side (causing me to have to wear an orthotic, foot-on-foot prosthesis on my right leg), I have kyphoscoliosis, and ichthyosis. I had my first spine surgery at the age of one, and since then, I have had a total of 43 surgeries (41 on my spine, and two on my right eye)!

Growing up, I knew that I was meant to be a performer. However, pursuing this career path was very difficult because no one in the industry looked like me, which was very discouraging. I realized very early on that I wanted to be the representation on screen and onstage that I didn’t have when I was younger.

Over the years, I have performed on stages all over the world, co-authored a best-selling book, built a platform of over 100,000 followers on TikTok, signed with an agency, and recently, I graduated with my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theatre from a conservatory!

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I think the number one thing that society can do to best support disabled artists is to listen to us! Listen when we say that a set, creative room, or space isn’t accessible and ask what can be done to fix it! Cast disabled actors to play disabled roles! If you’re going to write a disabled character into a piece of work, hire a disability consultant to ensure that you’re telling a disabled story correctly! Hire disabled disability and accessibility consultants to be on set for any project where you have disabled actors, so that you can create a safe and non-threatening environment where your disabled actors feel comfortable advocating for themselves! And most of all, listen to us when we tell our stories. Our voices are incredibly important in this industry and in our society in general!

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I think the most rewarding thing for me is knowing that I am fulfilling my original mission of being the representation for others that I didn’t have growing up. Knowing that someone out there will see a piece of work that I’m in and say to themselves: “If she can do that, I can do that too!” is the best reward for me! Showing young disabled people that they really can achieve anything they want to in life is why I do what I do!   

Contact Info:

• Website: cassidyhuff.com
• Instagram: @cass_huff
• Facebook: Cassidy Huff
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/casshuff/
• TIkTok: @casshuff