"Hi there, my name is Sean Towgood, creator and star of You Are My Hero. One of the moments that I'd like to share as a disabled person is when I was like, “Okay, it's possible to tell our stories”.
It was one of the shots in season one, where it was shown that my chair was being unloaded from a wheelchair accessible van. Up until that point, I hadn't really seen that process being shown on television, so that was really when I knew that we were doing something pretty special and unique.
Also, just part of why I got into the industry in the first place was because I enjoyed the collaborative process, and I think it's about time that disabled stories were featured more prominently in that process. And, you know, the hope is that the DSO will allow us to have a voice as a disabled community and propel us further into the conversation as disabled creatives."
This August, our spotlight shines on Toronto-based actor and writer Sean Towgood, creator of You’re My Hero (Longhope Media/CBC Gem).
Sean won an Emerge Media Award for the short radio documentary Stigma. He created and co-produced the audio documentaries Independence Day and Welcome To The Party for CBC’s The Doc Project; Epilogue for BBC’s Short Cuts series; and was associate producer on Equal Too (Stripped Media/Harder Than You Think).
Select theatre credits include Wounded Soldiers (4th Line Theatre, Ontario tour) and My Life on the Short Bus, a self-created solo piece (Soulo Theatre Festival). He has also contributed as a writer for the Streams and Variations podcast. Sean has also become an advocate for the disability community, particularly in the film and television industry.
In September 2024, Sean joined the DSO for our panel “PERSPECTIVES: Building Inclusive Futures: The Means of Accessibility”, presented at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Learn more about Sean.
DSO Spotlight is our way of celebrating the contributions of disabled creatives across the screen industry and making space for their work to be seen and valued. Share this article to help us amplify Sean’s work!
