I’m looking forward to the Oscars this weekend, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for James Martin! 

I was proud to see him on stage after the short film he starred in -  “An Irish Goodbye” - won a Bafta last month. I was really pleased to a see a film with an actor with a learning disability get recognised with big award. Even though I’ve never met James, I know of his work and that he’s an ambassador for Mencap NI because he was supported there from the age of 2 and still has a great relationship with them. 

See James at the Baftas

Watch the moment James Martin came on stage to celebrate An Irish Goodbye winning at the 2023 ceremony.

The Baftas and Oscars have celebrated a lot of films over the years, but I feel the representation of people with a learning disability has been very limited. I’ve always been very passionate about this, maybe because I work for a learning disability charity, and I talked about this six years ago. 

Learning disability is part of life –  1.5 million people in the UK have one. Everyone should have the chance to feel represented, to be seen and heard on screen.  

I think it is a good thing that we are starting to see more actors with a learning disability playing roles. As well as James, actors like Sarah Gordy, Tommy Jessop and Zack Gottsagen – who played a lead role in Peanut Butter Falcon with Shia LeBouef and presented an award at the Oscars – are appearing in big roles. There seemed to be a trend in the 90s of actors like Tom Hanks and Sean Penn playing people with a learning disability in films, so I think it’s a good thing that to me it feels like we’re moving away from that now.  

But as I said before - there's still lots of room for improvement! 

In the past few years, I think TV productions have been much better for featuring people with a learning disability. Soaps like Eastenders and Coronation Street have brought characters with a learning disability and talked about some of the issues they face into people’s living rooms. Casualty and Holby City had storylines that Mencap supported with to highlight issues, and then you’ve got programmes like Ralph and Katie which had Sarah and her on-screen husband as the lead characters. And that’s not to mention the opportunities people have had on talent shows, presenter roles, and as news reporters we’ve seen lately! 

But when it comes to Hollywood, I think they are still a long way behind. It’s not good enough to have a film starring someone with a learning disability every few years and not have anything in-between.

Where are the roles for actors like Zack Gottsagen to have a proper film career? It's like there's a token gesture every five years where someone gets a chance in a movie and then that's it. I wish film producers would take risks and give people the chance to shine and develop as actors in different roles. 

I hope James can build on the Bafta win with an Oscar and can go on to more starring roles in on the big screen. We’ll all be cheering you on for the Oscars and for the future, James! 

 - Amy