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Heard the One About the Disabled Muslim Comic From Jersey?
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of New York Times


New York Times, October 29, 2018
Posted: November 13th, 2018
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/29/arts/television/maysoon-z...

The stand-up comedian Maysoon Zayid likes to joke that if there were a competition called the Oppression Olympics, she would win gold. Im Palestinian, Muslim, Im a woman of color, Im disabled, Zayid, who has cerebral palsy, tells audiences, before pausing a beat to hang her head, her long dark hair curtaining her face, and I live in New Jersey. The joke lands laughs whether Zayid tells it in red states or blue. She told it near the beginning of her 2014 TED Talk, which drew nearly 15 million views. She now has a development deal with ABC to create a ... sitcom called Can-Can, starring her. If Can-Can makes it ... it may push two populations, one widely ignored, the other demonized, from the countrys margins into the mainstream. People with disabilities make up nearly 20 percent of the population yet account for about 2 percent of onscreen characters, some 95 percent of which are played by able-bodied stars. And it is hard to imagine a group more vilified in the United States than Muslims or Middle Easterners. Zayid is a vociferous part of a small, dedicated movement calling attention to disability rights in entertainment, which are consistently overlooked in the quote-unquote diversity conversation. Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, a philanthropic and advocacy organization for disability rights ... said Zayids show could crush enduring stigmas disabled people face.

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