Creator and star of You’re My Hero portrays the comical side of living with a disability

Sean Towgood created the Canadian comedy collection You are My Hero with the intention to indicate the viewers a extra full image of individuals residing with disabilities, through the use of humour as a technique to painting the ups and downs of life with cerebral palsy, he says.

The present premiered on CBC Gem in 2023, with the intention to shake up prevailing views on what it means to be residing with a incapacity within the twenty first century.

Ian, the lead character performed by Towgood, is an angsty, blunt, unfiltered 20-something navigating the social pressures of life in an unforgiving world not designed for wheels. Just like the character he portrays, Towgood has cerebral palsy, makes use of a motorized wheelchair and could be very humorous.

“I needed to write down a personality with a incapacity that mirrored my experiences and that different individuals may have a look at as somebody who mirrored theirs,” mentioned Towgood, who lives in Toronto.

And like many younger males in the present day, his character lives along with his mother, would not have a job, and is struggling for his independence.

Towgood, who can also be one of many present’s writers and government producers, spoke to Brent Bambury, host of CBC Radio’s Day 6, in regards to the journey to Season 2. Right here is their dialog.

Whenever you created You are My Hero, you mentioned that you simply needed to vary the way in which individuals take into consideration what it is wish to stay with a incapacity. What are you listening to from individuals who watch the present? How are they responding?

The response has been actually overwhelming from each the disabled neighborhood and folks exterior of our neighborhood. Largely individuals throughout the disabled neighborhood are saying: “Thanks, I lastly really feel represented and I really feel like my expertise is being filmed to a broader, wider viewers,” as a result of there hasn’t been loads of illustration for individuals with disabilities. For a very long time in Canada, the closest factor we bought to illustration was Aubrey Graham on Degrassi. So I feel it was about time that modified.

OK, so does that imply that you will get into an enormous struggle with Kendrick Lamar now?

Uh, effectively, I would not wish to mess with Kendrick.

You are one of many writers on the present and also you created it. However what’s the distinction between you and Ian, the character you play? How are you totally different out of your character?

So it is a actual factor that we targeted on… I needed Ian to not have all of the solutions, and to be a fallible character and never essentially be essentially the most likable on a regular basis. I feel Ian was the place I used to be once I was in my teenage years. So it is type of enjoyable as an actor to return and revisit a interval of your life that you simply’re not essentially in anymore. However as a youngster, I used to be very bitter and indignant in regards to the systematic obstacles that I confronted every day.

I feel he is [Ian] fairly likable. He’s spiky, although. He is bought an edge to him. There’s a scene the place a personality says to Ian, “I did not know you have been in another way abled.” What does Ian say in response to that?

He says, “For f—‘s sake, it is disabled,” is the direct quote.

WATCH | Season 2 trailer of Towgood’s comedy collection: 

Did you may have issues with the phrase in another way abled and the euphemism of the phrase?

Yeah, I like to inform individuals, if I may throw fireplace out of my fingers, if lightning bolts got here out of my eyes, then yeah, I’d name myself in another way abled. However since I am unable to try this but, I am going to simply go along with disabled.

Comedy is an enormous half, I feel, of what makes this present accessible to all people. Has it all the time been part of your life? Have you ever all the time been capable of see the comedian scenario even when issues have been difficult or tough or when, as you mentioned, there have been unfair obstacles that you simply needed to take care of?

Completely. I feel it is the outdated cliché. I’ve heard loads of stand-ups say this, and lots of people within the comedy house, but it surely was actually a coping mechanism for me to get by means of it. In any other case it might be actually robust to take care of a few of the stuff that I needed to take care of every day.

By way of the accessibility of comedy — no pun meant — I feel comedy is the easiest way to go about educating individuals on incapacity, as a result of once they’re laughing they do not essentially know that they are studying something.

I feel it isn’t so nice to lecture individuals. But when they’re laughing, then it permits them to re-examine: “Oh, perhaps I try this. Possibly I ought to rethink the way in which I method sure individuals or sure issues.”

There are issues that occur within the present which can be explicit to individuals with disabilities. We see Ian caught on a sidewalk when his wheelchair battery dies. He goes to have a beer with a pal and he wants a straw. He wants a pal to carry the beer. And these are conditions that you simply discover the humour in. However in actual life is it the identical factor? Do you discover humour in that stuff now?

I feel so, as a result of it doesn’t matter what the scenario is, it’s a must to method it in another way as a disabled individual, [given] the absurdity of the issues that one has to do to get by means of life… and the feedback that individuals make once you’re simply attempting to go to work or go to the grocery retailer or stuff like that.

You know the way many occasions I’ve heard the joke: “Oh, decelerate there. You are going to get a rushing ticket.” And each time they suppose it is the funniest factor they’ve ever mentioned of their life.

So Ian is 27, residing along with his mother and her boyfriend, and Ian says this isn’t an unusual scenario on this financial system. But it surely’s additionally not unusual for adults with disabilities to stay with their dad and mom. So what is going on to occur with that trajectory within the present? Is Ian ever going to get out on his personal?

I want to see Ian on his personal. As you mentioned, housing for disabled individuals is a big challenge; the waitlists are very lengthy. I used to be on a waitlist since I used to be 18 and I am a lot older now, and I simply was capable of get into assistive housing.

So these are the kinds of points that we actually wish to delve into as a result of we’re actually the one present that tackles these on tv. It is bringing these points to a broader viewers with a comedic spin on it in a means that solely You are My Hero can do.

Within the first episode of this season, Ian hires a intercourse employee. And I used to be questioning about what that was like for you as a result of your real-life mom is on the present. Does it ever get awkward so that you can take care of the subject material that you simply put ahead on this season together with your mother on the set?

I imply, I feel so. Anyone, if they’d their mother round and so they have been delving into a few of the subjects that we delve into, it could get a bit awkward. However my mother can also be a terrific actor in her personal proper, so she understands.

She understands that I’m a functioning grownup as effectively and I’ll be in intimate conditions. She’s all the time instilled in me to be as unbiased as potential. So I feel she’s conscious that I am gonna discover myself in a few of these conditions — not essentially, for the document, hiring a intercourse employee — however conditions related maybe.

There’s some fairly massive title visitor stars like Colin Mochrie and world wrestling champ Chris Jericho, who performs your delivery dad within the present. What does it imply so that you can have created a collection that individuals love and that may entice massive stars?

Oh, that also would not actually really feel like an actual factor for me. That Colin Mochrie was like: “Yeah, I am going to come in your present.” That is unfathomable, to have somebody of his comedic standing co-sign this present. However I additionally suppose meaning there’s one thing on this present that pulls individuals to wish to be a part of it.

How resides by yourself going? How are you discovering the assisted residing?

It is going very well to date. There was a little bit of an adjustment to start with, clearly, but it surely’s going very well. So I really feel actually supported and capable of develop into my independence as a younger grownup. In order that’s nice.