Talk:Cripping-up

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Major edit 11 January 2026

Apologies in advance if I have not followed proper procedure in some of this; I'm being bold.

In my view, this article would have been a good candidate for Wikipedia:STARTOVER, due to excessive original research in near-essay format, with an over-reliance on unreliable primary sources, including blogs and YouTube videos.

Overall thoughts:

I believe the current article lacks WP:NPOV with no sources defending the practice (e.g. disabled actor RJ Mitte has been quoted as saying it can be acceptable.[1])

Actor Zak Ford-Williams was explicitly referenced in the article eight times, which may indicate a conflict of interest somewhere (“Ford-Williams once said” was in one section despite not being mentioned elsewhere in that section, and there was no clear justification for its inclusion). I believe there is an insufficient number of independent secondary sources to justify these references.

The lede: Shortened to remove synthesised material and provide more clarity around the term. Removed the assertion that production houses introduced representation initiatives as a result of being lobbied on ‘cripping up’ (“As a result,”). Other pages (e.g. Disability rights movement) do more to specifically address representation (and with a wider focus beyond the UK). I removed “The call for change in industry practices has come from organisations such as […] as well as disabled actors such as […]” due to: all primary sources; there would be too many actors to list; and it would surely necessitate listing those in the industry (e.g. RJ Mitte as above)

‘Visible disability characteristics’ sub-section: I removed this due to it reading as an essay; what constitutes a visible disability will likely be covered in articles elsewhere, and if relevant to ‘cripping up’ ought to be made clear in relevant extracts.

The ‘On screen’ section: Excessive synthesis of original research.

• Removed the list of six disabled actors in film per WP:NOTEVERYTHING; examples of actors could be useful with a source discussing the history of ‘cripping up’ but is currently in my view an unjustified list. I believe the separate list of disabled actors authentically cast would similarly fall under this, but am leaving it for now as some of the content may have merit
• I also removed the tables relating to the casting of Marvel characters: per WP:NOTEVERYTHING; because the focus on Marvel was unjustified; and because the list asserts that certain living people (WP:BLP) are not disabled – there is no way of knowing this is factual.

The ‘On stage’ section:

• Removed all sub-sections and tables relating to Shakespeare; a list of which Shakespeare characters has (or may have) a disability is not directly relevant to the practice of non-disabled actors portraying disabled characters.
• Ditto for the list of court jesters and actors to portray Richard III (which predominantly cite the respective theatre companies’ casting pages). Within the section I have kept in the references to Mat Fraser and Arthur Hughes playing the role, as there are reliable and contemporaneous sources for their significance (particularly the latter, which explicitly mentions ‘cripping up’).
• Ditto for the list of credits by disabled actor Esmond Knight; it is not apparent how his ‘authentic casting’ in particular relates to ‘cripping up’, and in my view does not warrant a full list. I have not been able to find a source that compares his casting with modern portrayals.
• Moved the later references to Eddie Redmayne’s 2014 portrayal of Stephen Hawking to here; there are reliable secondary sources discussing this, though none that I could find in the context of ‘progressive condition portrayal’. Modified the sources; one was to www.themermaidinthegherkinjar.com;not reliable.

‘Progressive condition portrayal’ sub-section: Removed: Moved the Eddie Redmayne mention per the above. The rest of the sub-section revolves around Zak Ford-Williams portraying a character with cerebral palsy, but the only citation is for an interview with Ford-Williams. There does not appear to be any secondary sources that demonstrate the notability of Ford-Williams portraying a character with progressive conditions.

'Incidental portrayal' sub-section: Reworded text that appeared to be original research. Lacked definition; added in definition of incidental portrayal per the BBC (struggled to find an authoritative, non-blog source). Nonovix (talk) 06:20, 11 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]