Sebastian Stan and Celebrating Abled Allyship

How those without disabilities NEED to lead by his example

I don’t necessarily need an excuse to write about why Sebastian Stan is awesome. (I’ve met him and can 100% verify that he is, though.) But after watching his beautiful Golden Globes speech after he won the Best Actor award for his role as Edward in A Different Man (which you need to see, or see again if you already have), I knew I had to put something together. I’ve noticed the slightest, if not imperceptible shift in disability representation in Hollywood. There’s more awareness of Hollywood’s failings in regards to disability than ever before but action is still slower than molasses in terms of greenlighting projects, casting disabled actors, and allowing disabled screenwriters/directors/etc. into the room.

A Different Man is a hard sell of a movie. It’s a black comedy/satire/horror film (whatever you want to call it) that calls out so many facets of the disabled experience in a way that, sadly, able-bodied people are just not cognizant of. In a 2024 interview I did with Stan, alongside fellow performer Adam Pearson and director Aaron Schimberg, the Marvel actor admitted he had to find his own path into looking at the world of disability within the movie because he didn’t have much experience. He’s in the same boat as a lot of people who genuinely aren’t aware of the struggles of being disabled in the world because they have no interaction with it.