Axios House: Poor representation of people with disabilities in Hollywood does harm, actor RJ Mitte says

AUSTIN, Texas — Even as Hollywood has made progress with representation in casting and developing characters, some things continue to go wrong, actor and philanthropist RJ Mitte said during a virtual interview at SXSW.

Axios' Sara Fischer and Eleanor Hawkins spoke to Mitte and Texas Oncology executive vice president Debra Patt for the event, which was sponsored by Harmony Biosciences.

The big picture: Inaccurately or one-dimensionally portraying characters with disabilities has "a huge negative impact" on people who actually have those conditions, said Mitte, who has cerebral palsy.

• "When you feel misrepresented … it hurts to your soul, so much stronger than just a bad show."
• "We have an obligation as filmmakers … for the story's sake, for the community's sake and for making a better piece of art."

Yes, but: Bad examples can push us forward, Mitte added.

• It's an opportunity to look at something that was handled wrong and say, "We don't want that anymore."

The context: Mitte rose to fame for his role as Walter White Jr. in the TV show "Breaking Bad."

What's next: With artificial intelligence and misinformation on the rise, distortion in media is "everywhere," Mitte says.

• "People need to close the loop and go and talk to their health care provider about the information that they've found" about a condition they may think they have, Patt told Hawkins.

Content from the sponsor's segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, Project Sleep president and CEO Julie Flygare lamented the challenges of poor representation in entertainment.

• "Have you ever seen 'Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo'? 'SNL'? 'Modern Family'?" Flygare, who has been diagnosed with narcolepsy, asked the audience and Axios publisher Nicholas Johnston. "There are particular episodes of those shows that feature caricatures of narcolepsy."
• "What if the only person you know [with a condition] is a character? Those characters become really important."

Go deeper: Watch the full conversations on YouTube