announcer: This program is made possible in part by Kevin and Claudia Bright, United Airlines, Warner Bros.

Discovery, Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo, The Walt Disney Company, Paramount, IMDbPro, Ruderman Family Foundation, and The Murray/Reese Foundation.

Steve Way: Hi, I'm Steve Way, and welcome to the 2023 Media Access Awards.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ speaker: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Media Access Awards.

Here we go.

And a one, two, three, and-- ♪ Kiss me with those barbed wire lips.

♪ ♪ Twirl me around and baby shake it.

♪ ♪ Woah, baby, shake those hips.

♪ ♪ Kiss me with those barbed wire lips.

♪ ♪ Twirl me around and ♪ we'll dance until it hurts.

♪♪♪ [audience applauding] announcer: Welcome to the 2023 Media Access Awards with Easterseals, with your hosts, Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur.

This year's recipients include Paris Barclay, Davis Guggenheim, Peter Horton, David Schulner, Lauren Spencer, Amber Horn, Danielle Aufiero, Tobias Forrest, and Simon Cowell.

♪♪♪ announcer: Please welcome your hosts for the evening, Academy Award winners Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur.

[audience applauding] Marlee Matlin: Wow, good evening, everyone.

We are so thrilled to be hosting these awards tonight.

Troy Kotsur: Not only thrilled, but honored.

This is, it's important to note, the first broadcast show ever to focus exclusively on the achievements of the disabled.

[audience applauding] Troy: Which leaves me with only one last showbiz dream.

Marlee: Troy, what's that?

Troy: To be the first deaf host of Jeopardy.

Marlee: Good luck with that.

Troy: Well, thank you.

You know, I hope they're watching.

Marlee: Anyway, as more and more people are coming to realize, there is almost nothing that deaf and disabled people can't do if given the opportunity in entertainment and in all walks of life.

Troy: And as you'll see tonight, the talent is out there in abundance.

We are not going anywhere.

Marlee: So, let's get on with the show.

Our first award of the evening is the Media Access Award for Best Director.

Here to present is a veteran, Emmy-nominated actor with multiple credits to his name.

Please welcome Jason George.

[audience applauding] Jason George: Good evening.

I am absolutely thrilled to be back here at the Media Access Awards tonight to present this award to a man I have known and admired for many years.

His name is Paris Barclay.

[audience applauding] Jason: He's an absolute legend in the television business.

With 29 award nominations including 9 Emmy nominations and 2 Emmy wins, he is now up for another Emmy this year for a sensitive portrayal of a troubled deaf teenager.

But one of the most distinguishing attributes of Paris is that, as a Black gay man, he has always understood the plight of the outsider, and made it a point throughout his career to mentor and provide opportunities for minority directors.

I speak from experience, as Paris was one of my primary mentors as I started directing.

And actually, the first time I met Paris was when our kids attended the same preschool.

Now, remember, I was a--I was still dealing with Paris, the legend, the first Black president of the Directors Guild, one of the most prolific directors of any race.

But that day, I saw Paris, the daddy.

His big heart is on full display whenever he's around his two sons and his husband, Christopher.

It's the same big heart he communicates to actors that informs their performance.

In short, that big heart is why he's being honored here today.

Now, don't get me wrong, he tries to disguise that big heart with a hilarious curmudgeonly personality.

On the firefighter show we did together, the crew dedicated the season wrap T-shirt to Paris and his favorite catchphrases, like, "This is the shot that will end my career," or "All right, I'm bored," or when we actually get the scene right, "Let's not put our foot through that Rembrandt."

And I could go on and on, but it's only an hour show so let's see Paris, my own personal Rembrandt, hard at work.

announcer: Paris Barclay has worked with the biggest names in Hollywood.

From Dennis Franz and Jimmy Smits, which brought him his first Emmy win, to George Clooney, Julianna Margulies, and Jason George.

But Paris's uniqueness has always been seeking out stories that reflect the world we live in, and so he worked with such disabled talent as Robert David Hall, Lauren Potter, Nyle DiMarco, Katy Sullivan, Marlee Matlin, and Rodney Buford, bringing him his ninth Emmy nomination.

Paris Barclay, a true storyteller.

Jason: It is my distinct honor to present this year's Media Access Best Director Award to my friend, the most deserving Paris Barclay.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Paris Barclay: Thank you, Jason, for that explicit introduction.

And thank you to the Media Access Awards and the Easterseals Disability Services.

This is an amazing event.

It's only just begun but I'm already excited.

In fact, I'm very emotional, standing here because my mother was a social worker for many, many years, for 45 years actually.

She worked for the Illinois Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and the job there was to try to get people work who, for one reason or another, were stymied by the system or were left out or excluded or had problems in their record or had problems like disabilities for the world to learn to accept.

So, she changed the world, at least all these little worlds in Illinois, and I'm trying to do the same thing.

Those performers you saw, like Robert David Hall who's here tonight, our host Marlee Matlin, Lauren Potter and Robin Trocki, who recently passed away, Kurt Yaeger, who's here tonight, and even people like Katy Sullivan and Rodney Buford, so many people have changed me.

They've actually changed me as a director, and that's worth doing.

And they've always reminded me that diversity goes beyond ethnicity, it goes beyond color, goes beyond gender.

If we wanna reflect the world that we are living in, we need to make it truly inclusive of the millions and millions of people who are living with disabilities because that's what it's really all about.

They're aching to be seen and some of us are in a position to help them to be seen.

And it's not just actors, either.

Directors, I know we have a few here in the house, Jenni Gold, Rachel Ramos, Nandi Bowe.

They've started their own movement within the Directors Guild which I support 100%, because we also need to bring disabled people behind the camera to help to tell those stories and to make sure they're authentic.

So anyway, look, Ma, I've become a social worker.

It was not my intention.

I thought I was gonna be a director, but I will include disabled people in everything I do, and I do it because it makes the work better.

I do it because it makes the world better.

So, when the audience connects with Rodney Hughes's character, you agree, thank you.

You know, he's playing a Black, gay, deaf man in a horrible situation, but he's bringing his humanity and he's bringing his heart, and the world feels it.

That's what I wanna do.

I wanna encourage everyone who's in a position to change the world by showing the world, including showing people with disabilities to get busy, because we are needed right now.

So, thank you very much for this honor and I accept it on behalf of all those people.

♪♪♪ Marlee: And now, to start off the entertainment part of our show, he calls himself the" cripple threat of comedy," and he made his national debut to thunderous laughter on "America's Got Talent."

Please welcome Ryan Niemiller.

Ryan Niemiller: Thank you so much.

I'm happy to be here.

My name is Ryan Niemiller.

I've had a pretty good year.

Six months ago I had my first baby, everybody.

Thank you.

Thank you.

My stuff works.

Who knew, who knew?

Who saw that coming?

Not my wife.

We had a little boy.

We had a little boy, which is exciting.

Now, I know this is the cliché thing you're supposed to say when you're about to be a parent, but honestly I did not care if I was gonna be having a boy or a girl.

The only thing I was concerned about was would my wife let me hold it.

Oh, stop, none of you would let me hold your baby.

You're not better than my wife.

How dare you.

The other day I caught her googling "baby helmets."

I don't know what that was about.

Probably unrelated.

We had a big boy too.

We got a big boy, 9 pounds 8 ounces.

Natural birth.

My wife is my hero.

Now, ladies, I know this sounds ridiculous now.

I've changed my ways.

I never thought that childbirth was pleasant, but I thought you might have been milking it just a little bit, until I saw my wife essentially push my head on a fork out of her body.

She wins--she wins every argument forever.

My son didn't beat me, though.

I was 10 pounds 6 ounces, and that was without arms.

I used to be a little upset with my mom about my disability.

If I would have had arms, she would have cracked in half.

I wanna be a good dad so I'm looking in myself, I'm trying to change some things about myself, 'cause I'm a 41-year-old first-time dad.

I'm about to be an old-man dad, so I--first thing I decided I wanna do, I wanna get in better shape.

I wanna get in better shape.

I know I'm not in great shape, but pizza's delicious.

That's not my fault.

So I wanna get in better shape, and what made me realize I wanted to get in better shape was 8 months into the pregnancy, my 8-month pregnant wife, the symptoms she was describing having are just how I feel every day of my life.

And that's probably not good.

Like, one day, she was really struggling.

She was having a hard time, so I went up to her and I was like, "Hey, honey, how are you feeling?"

She was like, "I feel like-- I have heartburn, my feet are swollen, I need help standing up."

And I was like, "Damn, am I pregnant?

I've been pregnant for 25 years.

That's probably a record."

All right, that's my time, everybody.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you.

[audience applauding] Ryan: Now I have the pleasure of introducing the presenter of the next award, the Producers Guild of America George Sunga Award.

Please welcome award-winning DGA director, Jenni Gold.

♪♪♪ Jenni Gold: Hey, everyone looks great.

It's my pleasure to present the next award to a man whose long list of accomplishments include an Academy Award for "An Inconvenient Truth," the eye-opening study of global warming.

His name, of course, is Davis Guggenheim, and he is being honored tonight for one of the most powerful films ever made about the disability experience.

The film is called "Still: A Michael J.

Fox Movie."

speaker: Everyone talks now about "owning their narrative," so the sad sack story is Michael J.

Fox gets this debilitating disease and it crushes him.

Michael J.

Fox: Yeah, that's boring.

speaker: Mr. Fox.

Michael: Agh, the knee.

speaker: Okay.

speaker: Nice to meet you, sir.

Michael: Nice to meet you.

You knocked me off my feet.

Michael: It's part of the deal is that I fall.

It's the real deal.

speaker: Parkinson's and gravity are real.

Michael: Yeah, gravity is real, even if you're only falling from my height.

speaker: Turn.

Make sure you're settled.

Michael: Parkinson's is just a disaster.

But it's so real.

When my arm would seize up or my hand would twist, that's real, it's real.

speaker: Do you know what, you could put a little bit of this in there.

Michael: Okay, mush it down.

I'll hold the bowl.

speaker: It's really hard.

It's kind of, like, hurting my hand.

Michael: I can't even hold the bowl.

Michael: When I'm with my family, there's no lying with them.

There's no, "Poor baby.

I feel your pain, I feel so bad for you.

You're a saint among men and--" That would be the worst thing they could do to me.

People express to me that I make them feel better, I make them do things they might not otherwise do.

And that's the most powerful thing you can ever feel and that's a huge responsibility.

I don't wanna--it up.

speaker: Right, it's okay not to be Michael J.

Fox sometimes.

♪♪♪ Jenni: For this astonishing achievement in filmmaking, the recipient of this year's Producers Guild of America George Sunga Award, Davis Guggenheim.

[audience applauding] Jenni: Davis couldn't be here with us tonight but he wanted to share a message, so please check out the screens.

Davis Guggenheim: Thank you so much, Jenni.

When we were filming that scene you just saw of Michael J.

Fox walking through Manhattan, none of us thought he was gonna fall.

And when he did, we all just gasped and we were worried that he was hurt, we were worried that he'd be mad, we were worried that we as a film crew had done something wrong.

And in that classic Michael J.

Fox way, with classic comedic timing that goes all the way back to "Family Ties," he hits that one liner, "You knocked me off my feet."

And it's fascinating because in one sense it's a joke but, like all great humor, there's a deeper meaning in there which is "Don't see me as someone with a disability.

Don't put me in a box."

And that's the thing that Michael has taught me in the making of this film.

One of the first things he said to me when we started talking about making this movie, was "No violins."

Not violence, not punches and gunshots, but no violins.

It's almost more dangerous to have sad music when you describe someone with a disability.

That's not Michael.

He insists on being funny, he insists on being flawed, he insists on being human.

And that's the gift of having made this movie with him.

So I am super, super-grateful to Media Access.

I'm super-honored to get the Producers Guild of America George Sunga Award.

I'm very grateful to Deborah and Allen for this and to, more than anything, to be part and to be accepted in your wonderful community.

Thank you so much.

[audience applauding] Troy: It all starts with an idea, a script, words on a page.

There wouldn't be a television show or a feature film without those people called writers.

Our next award is the Writers Guild of America West Evan Summers Memorial Award.

Here to talk about their own experience with writers are the actors Sandra Mae Frank and Matthew Jeffers.

Matthew Jeffers: It takes writers and producers to see that as authentic, three-dimensional characters, we bring a healthy new realism and life experience to a show.

Matthew: They can be and should be central characters: doctors, nurses, teachers, judges.

Writers can be our greatest allies in bringing the world of the disabled into the world of media.

Gisselle Legere: Hello, my name is Gisselle Legere.

As a disabled writer and one that has worked directly with our recipients, I know firsthand their commitment to expand the universe of television to include full-blooded characters with disabilities.

They are executive producers Peter Horton and David Schulner of the long-running primetime series, "New Amsterdam."

Let's see a bit of their work.

speaker: New haircut?

Mark Walsh: Look, I know Casey's out of town so you need someone to gossip with, but may I suggest quite literally anyone else in our entire department.

speaker: Ooh, speaking of our department, Leyla's visa finally got approved which means, drumroll please-- Mark: No.

speaker: She's finally moving out of my apartment and into her own place.

Mark: You know, maybe you can call Casey, Facetime him, I don't know.

Elizabeth: [giggling] speaker: Oh, Max, looking for you.

Always nice to see you, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: You too.

Gisselle: Peter, David, I am so honored to be presenting you with this year's Writers Guild of America West Evan Summers Memorial Award.

In your commitment to disability inclusion, you have helped change television forever.

Thank you.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ David Schulner: Do you want to go first?

Peter Horton: You go ahead.

David: Oh gosh, okay.

Peter and I would like to thank the Media Access Awards and Easterseals for recognizing "New Amsterdam."

And I know I don't need to say this to this audience, but I do wanna say this to the larger audience.

What we're doing here is not charity.

We are not here out of the kindness of our hearts.

We are all here because we are competitive and relentless and insanely talented and our diversity makes our stories better.

I know this because when Lauren Ridloff was on "New Amsterdam," the show was better.

When Marlee Matlin was on "New Amsterdam," the show was better.

Sandra Mae Frank, Matthew Jeffers, John Christopher Jones, Tim Omundson, Eileen Grubba are just a few of the actors who played characters for us who were more than their disabilities.

They made our show more expansive, more surprising, and more beautiful.

And we're so honored and humbled to be here tonight.

Thank you.

Peter: I'm gonna read part of this, just 'cause I really wanna get it right.

You know, I'm really grateful.

We're both really grateful for this award.

But there's part of me that's a little bit sad because we're getting an award for doing something that should be so natural.

I mean--I mean, you look at--I'm still back with the tapdancer.

I mean, that was just unbelievable.

You look at the faces here, look at the talent here, and the idea that that should be special and should be awarded just seems a little bit off to me.

We--the way we do our work, I mean, one of the best descriptions I know of how to say it is the author Russell Banks defines writing as, "A dog knows exactly what it means to be a dog, a monkey even knows what it means to be a monkey.

But human beings are the only species that need to be reminded of what it means to be human."

Being human has so little to do with being able-bodied, disabled, or as our friend at the World Health Organization, Chris Bailey, who's partially blind, calls other-abled.

Those labels are just the frosting on the cake of character, of intelligence, of humor, of dancing, of all of the things that really do make us human.

And we write stories and do work about the cake, so working with people who are other-abled or creating characters that are other-abled is just natural and, as David says, is a benefit to us.

It's expansive to us.

So we're really grateful for this award, we really are.

But I really look forward to the day when these awards aren't given out anymore, this is just the way it is.

Thank you very much.

♪♪♪ announcer: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Nic Novicki.

Nic Novicki: Hello.

I am so honored to be here at the Media Access Awards.

I mean, we got Marlee Matlin and Troy Kotsur as the hosts.

I mean, we got disability royalty in the house.

Speaking of royalty, I've been hearing the term short king thrown around a lot lately.

I mean, a lot, you know?

Literally, I was doing a show, three separate comedians were like, "I'm a short king," you know?

And I'm standing in the back, I was like, "I guess I'm the short emperor."

Literally, one of the comedians, he was like, "I'm 5 foot 7.

I'm a short king."

I was like, "You're a prince," all right?

You can't be king unless you have pedal extensions.

But I mean, where was this short king celebration when I was dating?

I mean, it was hard.

I had to develop skills.

I had to be like, "I'm also a magician, come on, date me."

But I did, I found the woman of my dreams.

I've been happily married for eight years.

And two years ago, we had our first daughter and, let me tell you what, she is very strong.

When I change her diaper, I use my entire body to hold her down, like I'm a UFC fighter.

I just kind of grapple her and she'll sort of kick out a little bit, and I've tapped out a few times.

I've been like, "Baby, I need help."

But she's strong.

Most dads, they worry about whether they're gonna get to that point where their son is gonna grow up to be big enough to beat them up in a fight.

I am at the tail end of where I could take her.

Like, any day I'm gonna see her and she's gonna be like, "It's fight night."

But it's been an exciting year for me.

I am in a very big superhero movie, and there's a lot of fans of these kind of movies.

I mean, I--it's been exciting for me.

I've been taking a lot of photos.

I was taking a photo with this one guy, he's like, "Can we take another?"

I was like, "Sure."

He's like, "Can you get on my shoulders for this one?"

I was like, "No."

He's like, "Why?"

I'm like, "Couple of reasons.

First of all, I'm 40, so that's the biggest reason.

Second of all, I'm SAG-AFTRA, and there's a strike, so I can't do stunt work."

Thank you, guys.

All right, now, I am here tonight to present the inaugural Easterseals Impact Award, yes.

It is for extraordinary service in promoting disability representation in film and TV.

As the founder and director of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and a board member of Easterseals Southern California, I am very familiar with the organization that has been around for over 100 years, yes, providing essential services to people with disabilities and their families.

Easterseals Southern California is one of 73 affiliates, and it serves over 18,000 people.

The recipient of this inaugural award is an actor, an author, and a disability influencer, Lauren "Lolo" Spencer.

Now, Lolo was diagnosed with ALS when she was 14, and she continued to follow her dreams of being an actor, and she triumphed.

In 2019, she became the lead in a film called "Give Me Liberty," and it ended up snagging her an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

She is currently the co-star of a streaming comedy series which was just renewed for its third season.

She spends the majority of her time when she's not acting as a disability lifestyle influencer on her awesome YouTube show.

It's called "Sitting Pretty."

Let's check out her work 'cause she's a rock star.

speaker: Got some tape?

I want a point of tape.

speaker: Okay, here we go.

Hold my hand right there.

speaker: Stop.

Stop, driver, stop.

Tracy: Ma, calm down, step back.

Mom, step back.

speaker: Clayton's been locked up.

Tracy: Why you springing this up on me?

You're forever springing up something on me.

What is this?

speaker: I ain't always springing jack up on you.

He was out here with his friends, protesting.

It's $1,000.

It's on you.

Tracy: Why do I have to go get him?

I don't have $1,000.

speaker: I don't either.

Tracy: That's on you.

Why don't you go get him?

speaker: Miss woop-dee-doo, just got her money, that's gonna be leaving her family, that's gonna be leaving so.

Tracy: Mom, step back so I can talk to you, 'cause you're not making no sense right now.

speaker: You've got to go and get your brother.

That's that.

Nic: It is my great honor to present the inaugural Easterseals Impact Award to the very talented Lauren "Lolo" Spencer.

[audience applauding] Lauren "Lolo" Spencer: Hi, John.

Listen, y'all.

Shout out to Easterseals, okay?

Shout out to the Media Access Awards.

This is such an honor to receive this award.

I was so surprised to get it.

I was not expecting it, but I'm so glad because when I started my YouTube channel back in 2015, you could not have paid me to guess that this was the life that I was gonna live, that this was the career that I was gonna have, and then the more and more that I started interacting with other people with disabilities, with varying disabilities online, I realized that the work that I was doing was bigger than me, and that's when I knew I had to start taking my own life seriously, okay?

So it's just such an honor to be here.

Thank you to my whole team who lets me just be my great self.

Thank you to my family and friends who have always been super-supportive of who I am, who have never limited me in any way, shape, form, and fashion.

Thank you to the whole team at Easterseals for recognizing me and just always being a support system.

Y'all are the best, and we're gonna represent for disability, regardless of what they try to do, and we're gonna represent the best way that we can.

I love y'all.

Thank you.

♪♪♪ Troy: It's amazing to see all these people here onstage and onscreen, moving the needle for greater disability inclusion.

We applaud you all.

Marlee: Every year, the Casting Society of America bestows an award on the casting director or directors who strive to expand casting opportunities for disabled performers, whether the part is specifically written as a disabled character or simply any character central to the story.

To talk about the importance of casting, please welcome Sue Ann Pien.

♪♪♪ Sue Ann Pien: I just have--oh my God, Marlee Matlin, oh my God, Troy Kotsur, wow.

The heart and soul of any film or TV project is casting.

Casting directors have an enormous influence over which actors the directors see for auditions.

They are valued for their knowledge, taste, and deep understanding of character.

For most of film history, neurotypical and non-disabled actors have depicted neurodiverse and disabled characters, perhaps because they were simply better known, more recognizable, but in the last few years, that has begun to change.

Actors with disabilities are getting more exposure and more opportunities, due in large part to the forward-thinking casting directors who increasingly see them simply as actors, capable of a wide variety of roles that explore the many facets of their identity.

Tonight's honorees, Danielle Aufiero and Amber Horn, are two such casting pioneers.

Time and time again, they have thought outside of the box and brought in a diverse range of actors who might not otherwise be called in for mainstream roles.

In one of the last shows that they cast, they conducted a worldwide search to find the right actor to play a lead character with a prosthetic leg.

They succeeded.

That's the kind of vision and determination it takes to get the job done and change the course of casting and industry norms of the past.

Thank you for all you have done for all actors.

Matt Fleckenstein: Hi, I'm Matt Fleckenstein, executive producer and showrunner of the Apple TV+ streaming series, "Best Foot Forward," based on a memoir by comedian and Paralympian Josh Sundquist.

When Josh was young, he lost his leg to cancer.

So, finding a 12-year-old actor with the same disability who could also convincingly play the role was a daunting task.

But as Sue Ann alluded to, Danielle and Amber are incredible casting directors, spent months pursuing non-traditional paths to connect with the disability community and find kids with disabilities, quite literally, all around the world.

And they found Logan Marmino, a kid from Medford, New Jersey, a para athlete who had never acted before but who brought his own lived version of Josh's experience and just a boatload of natural talent to bring the character of Josh to life in a real and authentic way.

Once again, Danielle and Amber, as they always do, never stopped until they found the right actor for the role.

Let's take a look at their work.

Josh Dubin: Oh, uh, guys, listen.

Please don't tell anyone about my leg.

speaker: Dude, your leg is basically the only interesting thing about you.

You should totally use it.

speaker: I just don't want anyone to treat me any differently, okay?

I wanna make friends because they like me, not because they feel bad for me.

speaker: Well, you know, if you just lay low, none of this will be an issue.

speaker: Dubin, get your head in the game.

speaker: Pass the ball, Josh.

speaker: Pass the ball, Josh.

♪ ET.

♪ He's the alien but they alienate me.

♪ ♪ ET.

♪ You can't phone home when your home thinks you're phony.

♪ ♪ Dissect my memories like a high school laboratory.

♪ ♪ Try to gaslight about the red light.

♪ ♪ Put my thoughts in quarantine.

Remember.

♪ ♪ Try to put together he said.

[audience applauding] Matt: I am incredibly delighted to say this year's winners of the Casting Society of America Award for Authentic Disabled Casting, Danielle Aufiero and Amber Horn.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Amber Horn: Thank you, Matt.

Matt actually is the first television creator who took a chance on Danielle and I to cast a television series, just the two of us, so it was really such an honor.

It's not lost on us how special it is to get to work in children and family television a lot.

We have the honor and privilege of meeting young actors and trying to figure out what role that they could be right for.

One of the first performers with a disability was a little girl we met while casting Matt's show, a little girl named Emily.

She came in, she had a big personality.

She was kind of sassy, funny, and she came in for a role that she wasn't quite right for.

A couple of weeks later we were reading a script, and there was the perfect role.

The little girl had, like, a snarky line, and she was really funny, and I thought, "Oh, Emily is perfect for this."

So we brought her back in, put her on tape, sent her tape to Matt and the network, and it was really awesome to see her performance on television and watch it with my family, and just make it more mainstream that everyone should have the opportunity to be on TV, and I truly believe that children need to see themselves on TV, so it's just really cool to be a part of that process.

Danielle Aufiero: We wanna say thank you to the Easterseals and to Deb and Allen and to the Media Access Awards.

You guys put on a great show.

This has been so fun and we're basically talent scouting, so any of you could wind up in any of our shows in the next couple of years.

Thank you to the Casting Society.

We're just honored.

This is--we are--it's a privilege to be an ally, it's a privilege to be in the position to shine a spotlight on actors who don't normally get that spotlight.

So--and especially, like Amber said, in the kids and family space where it's important to see it from a young age.

I also wanna thank Steven Tylor O'Connor who is from our office who is here and he is tireless in his advocacy for the under-represented.

And just wanted to say if--like Geena Davis says, if you can see it, you can be it.

And we firmly believe that and hope to continue to be an ally in that way.

Amber: Thank you.

Danielle: Thank you.

announcer: Please welcome a young actress, author, and influencer, Sofia Sanchez.

Sofia Sanchez: Hello, I love the Media Access Awards, and I'm so happy to be here to present our next performer.

Her name is Amanda Mammana.

She is beautiful, different, and sings like a bird.

Here she is, Amanda Mammana.

Amanda Mammana: Thank you so much for having me.

It's such an honor to be here.

As you can probably tell, I have a stutter, but I haven't let that stop me from chasing my dreams.

So I'm gonna sing a song for you guys.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ I still remember that kid afraid to open the door.

♪ ♪ And now she's grown, ♪ and she doesn't keep that fear anymore.

♪ ♪ It was kept in a box and locked but she held the key.

♪ ♪ But now the box is locked, and the key is nowhere to be seen.

♪ ♪ But what if I.

♪ Could go back in time.

♪ And change the way.

♪ I felt about my life.

♪ Oh, but then would I.

♪ Still have inside.

♪ Everything that's brought me back to life.

♪ ♪ I still remember that kid wanting to be more.

♪ ♪ But now she knows that she's worth ♪ ♪ more than what she's been told.

♪ ♪ She tried her best to be best and just forget the rest.

♪ ♪ But the rest is her best and it's what you get.

♪ ♪ So just let go.

♪ But what if I.

♪ Could go back in time.

♪ And change the way.

♪ I felt about my life.

♪ Oh, but then would I.

♪ Still have inside.

♪ Everything that's brought me back to life.

♪ ♪ I still remember the kid afraid of losing it all.

♪ ♪ But now she knows that it's a fire inside her bones.

♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ But what if I.

♪ Could go back in time.

♪ And change the way.

♪ I felt about my life.

♪ Oh, but then would I.

♪ Still have inside.

♪ Everything that's brought me to life.

♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: Welcome back Ryan Niemiller.

Ryan: That was beautiful, Amanda.

We are both here tonight because of one man, Simon Cowell, and one TV show, "America's Got Talent."

We both auditioned for the show and soon appeared for the first time on national television.

Amanda: Yeah, it didn't make a difference to Simon that I had a speech problem.

The only thing he cared about was my singing.

He has changed my life, and he has for so many others as well.

Ryan: Viewers of "America's Got Talent," "Britain's Got Talent," or one of the many other "Got Talent" spinoffs around the world are very aware that Simon is openminded and enthusiastic about talent, disabled or not.

Amanda: Let's see some of his work.

Simon Cowell: So you were singing before you lost your hearing?

Mandy Harvey: Yeah, I've been singing since I was four.

♪ So I will try, ♪ So I will try.

Simon: I never think I'm gonna be surprised or amazed by people, and then you turn up.

Simon: I mean, I've done this a long time.

That was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen and heard.

Come here.

Putri Ariani: People look at me just as a blind person, not as a musician.

♪♪♪ Simon: You've got an amazing distinctive voice, really good.

Simon: There's the gold.

Ahren Belisle: To do my comedy I use a text-to-speech app.

Simon: Do you have a day job?

Ahren: I'm an engineer.

♪ Watch out, 'cause here I come.

♪ ♪ And I'm marching on to the beat of drums.

♪♪ Simon: In terms of this kind of act I've seen over the years, honest to God, that was the best I've ever seen.

Simon: It is the people we've met along the way that make this show so special.

Honestly, you define what an all-star is.

Kodi Lee: Heck yeah!

Ryan: We are so honored to present this year's Media Access Norman Lear-Geri Jewell Lifetime Achievement Award to-- Amanda: To Simon Cowell.

Ryan: Simon is in London.

Please watch the screens.

Simon: I wanna say thank you because this is such an honor for me to receive this.

And I really thought about all the years I've been working in the music business and making television shows, and I sent a note to the producers I work with in the UK and America to say even though the award is given to me, this is actually an award for us because we've always believed on our shows that everyone, and I mean everyone, has always been welcome, will always be welcome, and I've told my son that I received this award, and I think of everything I've received throughout my career, I will put this as number one, and I genuinely mean that.

Thank you really for doing this.

It means an awful lot to me and my family and my team, as I said.

And that's it.

I'm very, very, very grateful.

Marlee: The annual Christopher Reeve Acting Award was established by Christopher Reeve himself after his tragic accident in 1995.

Here to announce this year's recipient is the beautiful woman standing right next to me here.

Please welcome YouTube influencer and motivational speaker, Molly Burke.

Molly Burke: Thank you.

I'm gonna go off script for just a second but I'm blind and can't read the teleprompter so they can't get mad at me.

I just have to say it is such an honor to be in a room of people who care as much about authentic representation and inclusion as I do.

So, thank you all for everything you do.

And it is a true honor to be here tonight to present the Christopher Reeve Acting Award to somebody who is so incredibly talented.

Tobias Forrest became disabled at 17 when he was diving at the Grand Canyon.

But living as a C5 quadriplegic has not stopped him from being an absolute powerhouse in the creative world.

He does everything from writing poetry, acting, modeling adaptive clothing, and even singing in a rock band called "Citizen."

He has worked for years to get a foothold in Hollywood and is now starring in a yet-to-be-released independent film called "Daruma," where he plays a cynical sour-on-life quad who finds out he has a child he never knew existed.

The film is incredible, and Tobias even more so.

Let's watch a few clips.

Patrick: I can't do this.

speaker: Hey, it was just an accident.

Patrick: No, this.

I can't do this.

You need to go, now.

speaker: It's 3 in the morning.

Patrick: So?

speaker: Why are you doing this?

Patrick: The moment I let people into my life, things get--up.

And I'm the one who has to pay the price for it.

This was a mistake.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [door slamming] Molly: Please help me in giving a warm welcome to Tobias Forrest.

Tobias Forrest: Thank you so much.

Marlee: Got it?

Tobias: Let's see.

Let's see.

I don't wanna ruin anything important.

Thank you, Molly and Marlee and Troy.

This has been an amazing night.

Congratulations to all of the award winners, and I apologize for the wheelchair pun, but this is a full circle moment for me.

Twenty years ago, Christopher Reeve changed my life with an acting scholarship.

Thank you so much.

And tonight I'm receiving an award in his honor for another life-changing gift, the opportunity to have a leading role in the film, "Daruma."

Huge gratitude to the Media Access Awards.

Deb and Allen, I can never give this back.

I could give you 10% of my next paycheck, but don't take it.

I'm still a struggling actor.

I have to say, also, thank you to my co-star, John Lawson.

I wouldn't be here without him.

Also to the dynamic duo, the creative team, Kelli and Alexander Yellen.

I would not be here without you.

Our awesome cast.

I have to say big thanks to my big sister, Lani, who's here tonight.

Thanks to our family, our parents.

People with disabilities are often misrepresented, they're misunderstood, and they're just plain missed in our media.

And the thing is with inclusion comes opportunities for everybody.

So, I know how important this is, and this opportunity is not lost on me.

And I will remember this night forever, and I wanna dedicate this award to the memory of Danny Murphy, to the legacy of Christopher Reeve, to my mom, who's battling breast cancer right now.

You guys are all my heroes.

And to everyone here in this room and beyond this room, hopefully we can make inclusion and authenticity just part of the natural choice.

Thank you very, very much.

Hopefully, I can pay this forward and create an opportunity for the next generation to be able to share their authentic stories and their unique talents.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you, thank you.

Marlee: Well, that's our show for tonight.

As I said, the surge of disabled talent has only begun to emerge on your screens and in all of our lives.

Troy: And you all can look for me soon as the new host of "Jeopardy."

Marlee: Goodnight and thank you for watching.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: This program is made possible in part by Kevin and Claudia Bright, United Airlines, Warner Bros.

Discovery, Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo, The Walt Disney Company, Paramount, IMDbPro, Ruderman Family Foundation, and The Murray/Reese Foundation.