My Gimpy Life is a hit online comedy series about less able people, by less able people and for less able people (although able bodied people will equally enjoy it). It’s been going for a while but we’ve only just come across it and want to share it because we really like its message and tone.
The show centres around the trials and tribulations of wheelchair user, Teal Sherer, who plays herself in the main role and is trying to breakthrough as an actor in Hollywood. A difficult career path in the first place, it’s a struggle made more difficult by the day to day problems she faces as a wheelchair user. Unsurprisingly, she finds that stairs are far from being her only obstacle as producers label her ‘inspirational’ just for getting out of bed, able bodied people use disabled facilities and random men come up to her in the street to ask if she’s able to have sex. These are all experiences that we know many less able people have been through themselves and the show mines comedy from these situations.
The show has a really good message, with Teal refusing to define herself, or let others define her, by her disability – bang on message for BBS. Whereas often disabled characters in other programmes are either helpless victims or boring goodie goodies, here the disabled characters are portrayed as real people who aren’t afraid to be a bit vulgar (actually, a word of warning, it is occasionally quite rude).
It’s an approach that we think is striking a chord that other shows do not, but it wouldn’t mean much if the show wasn’t good entertainment in its own right. The reviews from viewers and critics have been great and the first season won online comedy awards and has been named as one of the best 25 web series of the moment. The misadventures of Teal Sherer will resonate with many wheelchair users and other less able people alike.
All of My Gimpy Life is up on YouTube and is well worth watching. Take a look at the first episode below, find out for yourself and let us know what you think: