A friend and supporter of ReelAbilities since before we began, Lawrence Carter-Long’s lifetime of advocacy combines a unique blend of the arts, public policy, and popular culture. An internationally respected authority on the history and evolution of disability in media, Lawrence has provided feedback, guidance, curated, or consulted on projects for SAG-AFTRA, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Sundance Institute, the American Film Institute, the Academy Museum, the Television Academy, Tribeca Festival, NPR, ITVS, the BBC, along with other notable names and initials that Non-Disclosure Agreements don’t allow us to mention.

In 2012, again in 2021, and most recently every Sunday night during July 2023, Lawrence Carter-Long curated and cohosted “The Projected Image: A History of Disability in Film” on Turner Classic Movies reaching approximately 90 million people. His hashtag promoting disability awareness, DISABLED. #SayTheWord went viral in 2016 and continues to be used today. He has written for academic journals like Film Quarterly, had pieces commissioned by PBS and The Atlantic, and been published in major mainstream publications like USA Today. A popular public speaker and panelist, Lawrence has lectured on disability and media at the Library of Congress, the Whitney Museum of Modern Art, and the United Nations, among others.

In addition, Lawrence’s insights are featured in the award-winning 2020 feature length documentary, “Code of the Freaks,” a radical reframing of disabled characters in film. As an actor, he appears in the 2021 NY Times Critic’s Pick, “Best Summer Ever” as Officer Gorinsky. Previously the communications lead for the National Council on Disability – the independent federal agency that drafted the Americans with Disabilities Act during the Obama administration—he became Codirector of DisArt based in Grand Rapids, MI in January 2023. He resides in Oakland, CA.