female announcer: This program is made possible in part by Claudia and Kevin Bright, Comcast, NBC Universal, Telemundo, The Walt Disney Company, Paramount, and the Murray/Reese Foundation.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ male: Welcome to the 2025 Media Access Awards with Easter Seals.

female: This year's recipients include Marlee Matlin, Anita Hollander, Kim Rosenstock, Elizabeth Meriwether, Sasha Stewart, Keisha Zollar, Pamela and Jay Manuel, Paul Schnee and Kerry Barden, Nyle DiMarco and Davis Guggenheim, Marissa Bode.

Special performances by Brian King Joseph, Rick Allen from Def Leppard, Lauren Monroe, and Joshua Ray Gooch.

With your host, Ali Stroker.

Welcome to the 2025 Media Access Awards with Easter Seals.

Please welcome your host, actor, singer, and Tony Award winner, Ali Stroker.

[audience applauding] Ali Stroker: I'm so thrilled to be here.

Let's give a round of applause to our opening act, Luca Lazy Legs, Pat Swelling.

[audience applauding] Ali: I am beyond honored to be this year's host of the 2025 Media Access Awards with Easter Seals.

The only show on television to focus on celebrating disability in film and television.

Did you catch how the announcer announced me as an actor and a singer?

Well, that wasn't just flair.

I really do love to sing.

In fact, I can burst into song at any moment.

Do you believe me?

♪ I'm just a girl who can't say no.

♪ ♪ I'm in a terrible fix.

♪ I always say, come on, let's go.

♪ ♪ Just when I oughta say nix.

♪ ♪ I can't say no.

♪ [audience applauding] Ali: [laughing] Thank you.

Okay, tonight isn't about my voice.

It's about visibility.

It's about reaching the one out of six children in the US who live with a disability and showing them that hope and opportunity belong to them too.

I became disabled after a car accident at the age of 2, and for years I felt confused about my identity, but music gave me a language.

Singing became my lifeline.

Looking back, I now see that becoming disabled was a kind of gift.

Being in a wheelchair has helped me develop more patience and resilience.

We are tested and forced to figure out things on our own.

With me, it comes down to one simple thing.

I don't want another life.

I love this life, as a wife and a mother and a Tony Award winner.

So go out there and find your passion and make your dreams come true.

Now, on with the show.

Our first presenter has been a fixture on American television since "Happy Days" to his Emmy-winning performance on HBO's "Barry" here to present this year's winner of the Media Access Icon Award, please welcome Henry Winkler.

[audience applauding] Henry Winkler: I would just like to say, my friend, I am so happy to be here tonight with all of you.

My disability is in my mind.

I am learning challenged, but I have to tell you that I did a show called "Happy Days" and, thank you, I had 10 1/2 fabulous years and Garry Marshall wanted to own a sports team.

He couldn't do that right away, so he created a softball team and we went all over America and played softball and we were invited to Chicago to wherever the Cubs play.

I don't follow baseball so I don't know what the name of that field is, but it's a famous field.

And we were invited there and I also got a letter from a young lady, would I come to see their talent show at an afterschool wonderful center for the deaf.

And I--so I said, well, I think that's a great idea.

I had some free time, so I went.

And Stacey, my wonderful wife, we were sitting there and we were watching this talent show and all of a sudden this little girl, about 12 years old, came out and started to dance to music she couldn't hear.

She felt the vibration on the floor.

Stacey and I started to cry.

It was because of the way she danced and who came out of this little body.

It was an icon to become, it was Marlee Matlin.

She comes to visit me in my office.

Her uncle and her aunt come and they say, "Come on, tell her not to be an actress.

It's too difficult and she's deaf."

"Oh," I said, "you know what, you've got the wrong guy because I saw in this little person the it of what it's supposed to be.

If she decides she wants to do something, she's gonna do it."

And then she proceeded to steal a pillow from my couch in my office.

Okay, she didn't steal it.

I gave it to her.

A few years later I see her walking across the Paramount lot and she's trying out for a movie and then this young lady who I was told to tell not to be an actress now has an Oscar.

I don't.

But here is a woman who knew what she wanted.

Here was a woman who was so powerful that she became an actress and she became a director and she became a producer and now she is the star of this wonderful documentary directed by Shoshannah Stern.

male: Marlee Matlin's career has spanned dozens of film and TV projects since she became the youngest person to win a Best Actress Academy Award.

female: A pioneer representing deaf actors in Hollywood.

male: The movie, "Children of a Lesser God," is generating a lot of buzz.

♪♪♪ Marlee Matlin: I met you when I was 12 and I'm 58, so how long is that?

I don't know math.

Henry: I don't either because, you know, I'm in the bottom 3% academically.

male: It--it's not.

She was brilliant and she was hilarious.

Marlee: I hope you realize you are more than what people think you are.

Be the difference and be loud.

[audience applauding] Henry: What you saw is a fraction of what lives inside this incredible human being.

I am so proud that she and her family are our family, and I am so proud to say to you that Marlee Matlin is going to receive this award.

Marlee.

[audience applauding] Marlee: Thank you for being here to give me this award.

It means a lot to me, you know that, you know that.

Thank you to Media Access for this honor for giving me this first Icon Award.

Wow, I really am truly humbled.

I would not be standing here before you with this prestigious award if it were not for our allies who believe in us.

I must also express my wholesome appreciation and love for Shoshannah Stern who single-handedly directed my documentary, "Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore."

Without her direction and vision and storytelling, the film would not be told in the most authentic way.

Thank you, Shoshannah.

And lastly, I do have to thank my team, my agent, Steve LaManna, my manager Steve Sauer, and Jack Jason, who has been my rock for 40 years.

Thank you, thank you.

And lastly, a big shout out to my husband, Kevin, and my children and my granddaughter Brooklyn.

You guys are my light.

Thank you all so very much.

[audience applauding] female: Please welcome SAG-AFTRA's newly elected president, Sean Astin.

Sean Astin: Hello, everyone.

Thank you so much for having me here.

It's a bit of a full circle moment for me.

My mother, Patty Duke, who played--she played Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan in "The Miracle Worker" a few decades apart.

She won an Academy Award as Helen and an Emmy playing Annie Sullivan, so I was born and raised in a home of inclusion, so I understand this room from a place of genuine appreciation and pride.

So thank you for having me here.

All right, this awesome award, it's the Harold Russell.

Harold Russell is a legend in Hollywood as a double amputee.

He won two Academy Awards.

He blazed a massive trail for all disabled performers.

This year's winner of the SAG-AFTRA Harold Russell Award is Anita Hollander.

[audience applauding] Anita is an actress and singer who's performed in film, TV, and live theater.

Her award-winning original solo musicals, "Still Standing" and "Spectacular Falls," have played off Broadway, the Kennedy Center and the White House.

She's, of course, appeared in "Law and Order," "As the World Turns," "All My Children," and many others that we love.

I met her this evening actually.

She's about to be grandma for the second time, gonna have to race back home tomorrow, but knew that this was an important moment that not just for herself but her family, for this community, and for the world, she wanted to be here to accept this.

So, I would say shall we have a moment of enjoying Anita's work.

[alarm ringing] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ female: I wish I'd called the police sooner.

male: Did you happen to see or hear anything unusual?

female: Just the dog barking.

male: Anyone coming or going from the apartment last night?

female: I wouldn't know.

I live upstairs.

female: He said he wanted to get a government job in Albany.

male: He wanted to work for the government?

female: In Albany, yeah.

He went there sometimes, for interviews, I think.

[audience applauding] Sean: For all of the tireless work that she's put in both on and off the stage and in front of and behind the cameras to increase the visibility of disabled performers in all of the arts, SAG-AFTRA is proud to present this year's Harold Russell Award to Anita Hollander.

[audience applauding] Anita Hollander: Oh my gosh, thank you so much, Sean, and thank you, Katie McGrath, for helping me to book some of those gigs.

Oh my gosh, so, and thank you for mentioning my grandchild that might be born right now as I'm standing here.

Fifty years ago, my dad died and he left behind these words: "Beyond the welfare of one's family and friends, the enhancement of the lives of others and those yet to come must be the real object of life."

My mother and my sisters and I have followed those words all of our lives and so this kind of feels like a lifetime achievement award which I thank very much the National PWD Committee of SAG-AFTRA.

And I would like to also thank these pioneers.

I've worked with them for decades.

♪ Christine, Kitty, Gayle, Terry, ♪ ♪ David, Danny, Steve, Diana, ♪ ♪ Antoinette, Eileen, Kurt, Jerry, Ray, Pearl, ♪ Becky, Sheila, ♪ Ivy Tracer who on her deathbed was doing ♪ ♪ committee work.

♪ Remember, if we help people understand, we can make the world better.

Thank you so much.

[audience applauding] [audience applauding] Ali: Our next performer is known as the King of Violin.

Though living with a painful nerve disorder called acute peripheral neuropathy, he has embraced music as both his lifelong passion and therapy.

After his finalist victory on "America's Got Talent," he has played to sold out audiences all over the world.

Please welcome the incomparable Brian King Joseph.

[audience applauding] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [audience applauding] Jenny Slate: Congratulations to Elizabeth "Liz" Meriwether, and Kim "Kimbubaba boobbibaba" Rosenstock on this incredible recognition from the Media Access Awards and the Writers Guild of America West.

"Dying for Sex" changed me, and I know its bold, thoughtful, unwavering writing has touched countless others.

You gave me a role brimming with intensity, love, and truth.

You let me inhabit a woman whose greatest love story is with her best friend, a love story that was both silly and achingly beautiful.

I'm deeply grateful for the space you created, one where I could be out of control while being also in charge, profoundly devoted and occasionally inappropriate, all in service of telling a story that really matters.

Thank you for trusting me with this perfectly crafted story and for the giant bag of junk that you made me carry.

I became really close with the physical therapist who straightened out my spine after all those months of lugging it around.

So I thank you for that because I love making new friends and I love you.

Congratulations!

female: Please welcome from "Dying for Sex," Esco Jouley.

[audience applauding] Esco Jouley: Whoo.

My little kid is just so happy.

Thank you, Jenny.

What defines truly lasting, impactful television is that rare alchemy of talent, courage, and radical authenticity.

"Dying for Sex" is one of those creations.

On its surface, it is a raw and deeply moving portrait of a woman confronting terminal metastatic breast cancer while seeking one last final transcendent-- Yeah, come on, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But beneath that provocative premise lies something far more profound: a story of friendship, vulnerability, and the transformative power of love.

We are deeply honored to be a part of "Dying for Sex" along the extraordinary Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate.

This year's Writers Guild of American West Evan Sumner's Memorial Award goes to the executive producers and showrunners of "Dying for Sex," Elizabeth Meriwether and Kim Rosenstock.

Let's see a few minutes of their brilliant work.

Molly Kochan: I'm too young, and it sucks, okay?

I haven't done anything with my life.

I actually don't know what I like or what I want.

No, I've never even had an orgasm with another person.

And now I'm gonna die.

female: Good.

Molly, hey.

We have something for your list.

male: Molly and I haven't had an active sex life in years.

female: Since Molly's breast cancer diagnosis?

male: Yeah, I mean, we weren't having much sex when you got cancer, so.

Molly: Because you said my bald head made you think about your dad.

Molly: And then I run across the street to this bodega.

female: To this bodega?

Like, you ran from therapy to here, like?

Molly: Yeah, it's right there.

Oh, look, that's Dr.

Ann.

female: Oh my God.

Molly: What is she saying?

female: Are you okay.

Are you okay?

Molly: No, I'm very bad.

Wait, oh my God, she's getting Steve.

Hide me.

female: What?

Molly: Hide me.

female: I, oh, hold on.

I don't think this is gonna give you what you want.

Oh no, oh, oh.

Molly: Oh hey, I just matched with someone.

female: Oh, just in the nick of time.

Molly: Oh, look at that.

"What are you up to?"

female: Ha ha ha.

Funny that you asked.

Molly: Where have you been all my life?

[laughing] Esco: Elizabeth and Kim are deeply committed to amplifying voices that could speak authentically to the disability experience, especially as the story's central character becomes increasingly disabled due to the cancer.

That commitment led them to two brilliant writers who are also here tonight, Keisha Zollar and Sasha Stewart, along with Kim Rosenstock, let's give them all truly a warm welcome.

[audience applauding] Kim Rosenstock: Yes, we're writers, so we all wrote stuff and you're gonna have--you're gonna have to see it.

I wanna thank the Media Access Awards, Easter Seals, and the WGA West for this incredible honor and to Jenny and Esco for that beautiful introduction and for all of your work telling this story with us.

"Dying for Sex" exists because Molly Kochan agreed to let her best friend Nikki Boyer, who's here with us tonight, make a podcast, letting her talk about her having sexual escapades while also having an incurable disease.

They shined a light on the stage 4 metastatic breast cancer community.

They made something honest and unflinching.

When Liz Meriwether and I set out to adapt this podcast for television, we knew that our North Star would be Molly's actual words and the details she gave us in her own stunning firsthand account, and we had the gift of having Nikki as our EP and constant generous source of information that we needed about her experience as Molly's caretaker, but we also knew that to depict this story as accurately as possible, we needed to find collaborators with firsthand lived experiences that we did not have.

[audience applauding] This started, of course, with our writers.

I just wanna say how grateful we are to both of you for contributing your voices and experiences to this story, for helping lift up Molly's story along with countless others who have seen themselves in this show because of you.

Sasha Stewart: So, obviously, first, thank you to Kim.

Thank you so much for hiring us and for creating this beautiful, beautiful show.

To Keisha for being my partner in all things disability justice, to the WGA and the Media Access Awards for putting us in the spotlight where we belong.

And to my husband, Nate, I love you so much.

As someone who's had a kidney transplant and cancer, really fun, writing on this show has meant the world to me.

Sick people are full people.

We are the main character.

And I hope that "Dying for Sex" has proven that we have infinite stories to share and that we all deserve to be hired to write them.

[audience applauding] Keisha Zollar: I'd like to thank the Media Access Awards, the WGA.

I'd like to thank my husband, Andrew, and our two daughters, Dorothy and Journey.

I'd like to thank everybody who has supported me.

I've been chronically ill for decades and being a part of "Dying for Sex" has been so powerful to me.

Storytelling is more than just art.

This was about power.

And finding ways for me to claim my power as a writer in a world that tells me I am powerless.

[audience applauding] female: Please welcome actor, comedian, and creator of the Easter Seals Disability Film Challenge, Nic Novicki.

[audience applauding] Nic Novicki: Hey, hey, hey.

Yes, how about a round of applause for these winners, all the winners, all the presenters.

I mean, we got legends out here.

We got Ali Stroker, Marlee Matlin, Henry Winkler, the Fonz was here.

The King of the Violin was here.

Man, he killed it too.

It's not easy following a rock and roll violinist.

But no, I feel lucky, you know, that I've been able to work a lot as an actor and a comedian all over the world, but over the years I've worked a bunch of different jobs.

I used to be a lifeguard and that was a fun job except I felt like people didn't trust me.

One time I was lifeguarding and this mom drops her kid off and then she just stood in the corner as if she was lifeguarding me lifeguarding her kid.

So I went up to her.

I was like, "Excuse me, ma'am, I'm starting to get the feeling that you don't think I could protect your son just because I'm little.

So I wanna let you know I also have attention deficit disorder.

So if anything happens to your son, it wasn't because I physically couldn't protect him it was because I just wasn't paying attention."

All right, look at that.

Thank you.

Now I am honored to be here to present this year's Easter Seals Impact Award for extraordinary achievements in spreading awareness and acceptance of people with disabilities in the media.

Easter Seals Disability Services empowers people with disabilities to live full and independent lives through autism therapy, employment, independent living, and early childhood education services.

Easter Seals supports people with disabilities and their families to be fully included everywhere, yes.

And Easter Seals also works to shift perceptions about disability.

Our campaign says it loud and clear: Disability is not a dirty word.

This year's Impact Award goes to a remarkable couple both born with osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare brittle bone disability.

Through the lens of TLC's cameras, they've invited the world into their lives to show that disability is no barrier to love, partnership, or a rich and fulfilling life.

Of course, we are talking about the incredible stars of "Jay & Pamela," Jay and Pamela Manuel.

Let's see a little of their journey.

Jay Manuel: I'm Jay.

I'm 28 years old, and this is my fiancee Pamela.

Pamela Manuel: I'm Pamela.

I am 30 years old.

Jay: And this is Cheddar.

We were both born with a super-rare disorder.

Pamela: Called osteogenesis imperfecta type 3.

Pamela: Yo!

Jay: Yeah, we're really bad at this.

Pamela: We're awful.

[both laughing] Jay: Our condition causes our bones to break easily.

Pamela: Combined we have over 400 fractures.

male: Okay, oh.

Pamela: Am I doing it-- male: You are doing it dangerously.

Jay: But this year we're gonna get married and move out.

It's not impossible, just not ideal.

Oh, okay, this is not gonna work.

male: We do support their decision to move out, but what if something happens to them and we're not there?

Pamela: For Jay to be hospitalized, literally weeks before we get married, it's like, very terrifying really.

I wanna spend time with my family.

It's been 5 years, they haven't come to Georgia.

Jay: Sometimes you gotta create your own family.

male: If you are in my son's life, then you are in our life.

Jay: I know we're capable even though most people count us out.

Pamela: We are in love with each other and we cannot wait to get married.

Jay: Living my best life is getting married to someone that I really enjoy being around.

Pamela: You've brought joy and hope to my life and I can't wait to scream at the top of my lungs, "You're my husband."

Nic: Please say hello to this year's winners of the Easter Seals Impact Award, Jay and Pamela Manuel.

[audience applauding] Pamela: Thank you.

Jay: All right, good evening, everybody.

You may be thinking I'm wearing these shades because I'm cool and you're right.

However, I'm also autistic, so that's why I got these shades on.

We are so honored to accept the 2025 Easter Seals Impact Award during the 16th anniversary of the Media Access Awards.

Okay, people, we out here.

Pamela: When we were born, both of us were given no more than 5 years to live.

To be here tonight in this room with all of you is beyond our wildest dreams.

Jay: Growing up we used to watch television, always hoping to see people who look like us, which, news flash, we didn't.

We never imagined we could be those people.

We wanted to share a story that celebrated disability, authenticity, and joy.

Pamela: Thank you to our families, friends, our team, TLC and to all of you who have supported us.

[audience applauding] [speaking foreign language] [audience applauding] Jay: If even one person watches our show and because of it chooses to see or treat a disabled person with more respect, kindness, and understanding than they would have the day before, then all of this hard work will be worth it.

Pamela: The tagline for our show is "A Once in a Lifetime Love."

That is how we feel about this entire journey.

Jay: This award right here that is almost the size of me, but thankfully not, is not just for us.

It is for everyone who believes in the power of disabled joy.

So this is to all of you, thank you so much.

Pamela: Gracias.

Jay: Thank you.

[audience applauding] Ali: Our next performers are a trio: Rick Allen, Lauren Monroe, and Joshua Ray Gooch.

Rick is the longtime drummer for the legendary English metal band Def Leppard.

Known to his fans as The Thunder God, this nickname honors his powerful drumming style and extraordinary resilience, especially after continuing to perform with the band to sold out arenas following the loss of his left arm in a car accident in 1984.

Rick and his wife Lauren, a singer songwriter and healing artist, are the co-founders of the Raven Drum Foundation, a charity for first responders and veterans suffering from PTSD.

Please welcome Rick Allen, Lauren Monroe, and Joshua Ray Gooch performing their original song "Everline."

[audience applauding] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪ Come here and wait here.

♪ ♪ I can relate here.

♪ It's not a matter of time.

♪ ♪ I'm now awake to my mistakes.

♪ ♪ I've seen the signs.

♪ Give me the strength.

♪ 'Cause I can't replace.

♪ All that I said I was.

♪ Give me the words and I can relearn.

♪ ♪ Everline, I can become ♪ Keep on talking.

♪ I'm skywalking.

♪ And feeling fine.

♪ Just stay, my heart.

♪ Can take it.

♪ Leave my mind.

♪ Give me the strength.

♪ 'Cause I can't replace.

♪ All that I said I was.

♪ Give me the words and I can relearn.

♪ ♪ Everline, I can become ♪ Oh, I'm awake and walking, oh.

♪ ♪ There you are.

There you are.

♪ ♪ Give me the strength.

♪ 'Cause I can't replace.

♪ All that I said I was.

♪ Give me the words and I can relearn.

♪ ♪ Everline, I can become ♪ Oh, I'm awake and walking, oh.

♪ ♪ And there you are.

And there you are.

♪♪ [audience applauding] Lily D. Moore: Hey there, congratulations, Paul and Kerry, on your Casting Society Award.

Thank you for casting me in "The Other."

Playing Fiona has been an experience I'll never forget.

As an activist and an actor, it's truly important to me to have been a part of something that celebrates real representation.

I hope your work inspires others to think outside the box and choose truth.

female: Here to present this year's winner of the Casting Society Award, please give a warm welcome to Amber Seeley.

Amber Seeley: It's such an honor to be here.

So as is well known in the film and television industry, creative casting directors often are the key to jumpstarting the careers of many talented but unknown and untested actors.

The winners of this year's Casting Society Award, Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee, are especially adept at finding new talent who can play, often for the first time, characters that are fully fleshed out and also happen to have a disability.

When I took on directing Sharon Draper's best selling novel, "Out of my Mind," for Disney, I knew I needed to work with a cast--thank you.

I needed to work with a casting director that understood how important authentic representation is.

Paul and Kerry searched high and low across the globe looking outside of traditional casting spaces and found the brilliant British actor, Phoebe-Rae Taylor.

I wish she was here tonight.

She would love this.

She had never acted before and herself has cerebral palsy and they found her to play the leading role.

When director Tony Goldwyn was working on "Ezra," Barden and Schnee again searched the country and found another first-time actor on the autism spectrum, William Fitzgerald, to play the lead role of an autistic character.

The talent is there if you are looking for authentic casting.

But it takes thoughtful, determined creatives like Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee to discover it.

♪♪♪ female: You knew a monster before, a real one.

One that scares you.

One that hurts people.

male: We gotta dance.

I think we gotta dance.

Oh yeah, let it roll, let it roll down to the--back up to the shoulders.

Now some claps, elbows up.

Ah yeah, let it roll, let it roll.

Come on, up into your chest, your chest.

female: You can't even say the word.

male: Just a word.

female: Autism.

male: Yeah, whatever.

female: Saying it out loud, it'll help Ezzy in his life.

male: Man, you know what, I don't--I'm not sure about that.

female: You gotta be able to talk about this and not-- male: Okay, tell me, what do you want to talk about?

female: Be hiding.

I don't wanna be hiding about it.

female: I'm not suffering.

female: What do you mean?

female: I have cerebral palsy, a condition caused by damage to the heart.

female: Connor.

female: Connor, he's not even half as smart as he thinks he is.

female: He's nice.

female: You like him!

Yes, you do, you wanna kiss him.

[audience applauding] Amber: Please welcome the recipients of the 2025 Casting Society Award, Kerry Barden and Paul Schnee.

[audience applauding] Paul Schnee: Thank you so much to Amber and to Tony Goldwyn for the films that we did.

Honestly, looking at those clips, it reminded me at least that seeing their work come to fruition wasn't really the most rewarding part of doing these films.

The most rewarding part was getting to tell them that they have the jobs.

We were lucky to be at the Toronto Film Festival where "Ezra" premiered and because of the strikes, the other actors could not be there, but William was there and to see--to watch him watching the movie was one of the most amazing experiences we've ever had and getting to tell Phoebe, which we taped, of course, over Zoom that she had gotten the job was really magical.

So thank you so much.

Kerry Barden: Thank you.

I have to say I'm humbled to be in this room with this kind of talent.

I'm honored that our colleagues in the casting society gave us this award, and the Easter Seals have honored us with this.

I wanna thank our incredible team, Roya Simonian and Rachel Goldman for their diligent work in finding these actors to play these roles and to thank Tony Goldwyn and Amber and Paul Etheridge, who did "The Other," to trust us with telling their stories and then these incredible performances from William, Lily, and Phoebe are just, I mean, yeah, are just-- it's humbling to me so thank you.

Ali: Now here to present this year's Award for Best Documentary, please welcome actor, comedian, and filmmaker, John Maucere.

[audience applauding] John Maucere: All right, good evening, everyone.

For 124 years, since its founding in 1864, Gallaudet University in Washington, DC, which is the world's first and only university exclusively for the deaf and hard of hearing, has had only hearing presidents.

Then in March of 1988 board of directors got together to choose yet another president and chose yet another hearing candidate, and I know because I was there.

The student body exploded in rage and we demanded for the very first time in the school's history a deaf president.

And wouldn't you know it?

Five days later, we got what we wanted.

A deaf president and that changed the perception of deaf people forever.

Now, last year, Emmy-nominated deaf actor and director Nyle DiMarco along with Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim, they got together and they collaborated to make an electrifying film capturing this moment called "Deaf President Now."

[audience applauding] male: There's a firestorm this evening at Gallaudet University.

female: The world's only deaf university.

male: The time was now to light a match.

male: The school's board of trustees bypassed two deaf candidates for the school's presidency in favor of a woman who can hear.

male: We wanted to scream out.

But how do you scream out in our language?

male: We knew we would have to have a plan.

male: Together we're united.

female: We pull all the fire alarms.

And everyone would know to go outside.

male: The lights started flickering and I could feel the vibration.

male: We locked all the gates and students blocked any entrance to the campus.

My grandfather called me and he said, "Oh Lord."

male: According to DC Police, you'll be arrested.

male: Over from the sidewalk, sir.

male: We'd give up our soul in order to get a deaf president.

male: We couldn't accept a leader who didn't understand our world.

male: She said, "Deaf people are not ready to function in a hearing world."

You heard it right.

female: I did not say that.

♪♪♪ male: This is not just a protest, it's a revolution.

We hear all the time, "You can't, you can't."

male: No, not this time.

Deaf can!

[audience applauding] John: That's right.

I was there.

I was there.

Okay, I want you all to sign with me now, ready?

Everyone's gonna sign with me.

Deaf president now.

There you go, Deaf President now.

All right, and here to accept the Best Documentary Award for this extraordinary achievement, please welcome producer and co-director of "Deaf President Now," our own Nyle DiMarco.

[audience applauding] Nyle DiMarco: Thank you.

John: Thank you.

Nyle: Thank you so much.

Wow, wow.

First of all, thank you so much to everyone here.

Thank you so much to the Media Access Awards.

It's funny that people often ask us about this film, how we managed to break the mold and how we managed to dig even deeper into the nuances of the deaf.

Well, the truth is for far too often hearing people have told our stories and I am so forever grateful to Apple and to Concordia Studio for raising the bar, two, for supporting us in hiring deaf creatives behind the scenes.

Of course, I have to say a huge thank you to the "Deaf President Now" four student leaders for trusting us and for being willing to share their deepest stories but I wanna be clear this is just the beginning.

There are so, so many more interesting deaf and disabled stories to tell and we look forward to sharing them with all of you.

So I have to say again, thank you to Apple, thank you so much to Concordia, to Davis Guggenheim, my co-director, to our brilliant editor Michael Harte, and to our producers Amanda Rohlke and Jonathan King, to our incredible deaf crew, and of course, my interpreter Grey Van Pelt and his Flamingo Interpreting team.

Thank you all so much.

[audience applauding] Ali: Our last award of the evening is the Christopher Reeve Acting Award established by actor Christopher Reeve himself soon after the tragic accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down.

Here to present this year's award is the audacious 7-year-old actor who played the young Nessarose in "Wicked," Cesily Collette Taylor.

[audience applauding] Cesily Collette Taylor: Hi, everyone.

It was a thrill of lifetime for me to be asked to play young Nessarose in the wonderful film "Wicked."

The grownup version of Nessarose, Marissa Bode, is gonna be the winner of this very cool award tonight, and she really deserves it.

Let's watch some of her performance from "Wicked."

female: Miss Nessarose, isn't it?

The governor's daughter?

How tragically beautiful you are.

Nessarose: This is my chance, my new start.

Marissa Bode: Elphaba is one of the few characters that really understands that Nessa can do things for herself.

The fact that they're casting a disabled actor and also really making sure it's emphasized that she is independent and she can do things for herself, I think is so important.

♪ Let's dance.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ [audience applauding] Cesily: It's really amazing on her first major movie role, the Christopher Reeve Action Award goes to Marissa Bode.

[audience applauding] Marissa: Thank you, everyone.

I don't have a full speech written or prepared but I really did want to speak from the heart.

First of all I wanna thank the whole community for not only being here but, of course, just existing so proudly and loudly and, of course, Easter Seals for just supporting the community and having a space for disabled talent that deserve to be here and deserve and have a place in Hollywood.

I also wanted to thank the casting team on "Wicked," Tiffany Canfield, Ryan Tymensky, and Bernie Telsey, for making it a mission to cast authentically.

I have consistently said if it hadn't gone to me I just wanted it to go to somebody who was also physically disabled.

And because I think it was high time for somebody who was actually disabled to play a disabled character.

Representation, of course, is incredibly important, but I want us to remind ourselves to extend far beyond just the casting.

Disabled people are not something to just cross off a diversity checklist.

[audience applauding] A reminder that our voices will always, always matter and that we have a place in this world.

[audience applauding] Ali: Well, that's our show with my two friends here and everyone else involved tonight, we hope you had a great time and we hope to see you next year.

Thank you so much.

Woo, woo, woo!

[audience applauding] ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ announcer: This program is made possible in part by Claudia and Kevin Bright, Comcast, NBC Universal, Telemundo, The Walt Disney Company, Paramount, and the Murray/Reese Foundation.