Disabled writer and actor Thom Jackson-Wood, who has ME, talks to Disability Horizons about his films, Awaken and The Black Box, both of which are about disability. Written after frustrations at disabled people being misrepresented on TV, he hopes the films will raise awareness of different disabilities, and ME in particular.
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What made you decide to make films about your condition or disabilities in general?
I began writing screenplays when I got sick with ME, mainly as a creative outlet. It was also a coping mechanism and a way to try and make something positive out what was a mostly negative situation.
I then began writing about disability in general because there was so little material out there that I could relate to. In addition, what did exist wasn’t very original and it relied too much on non-disabled people’s perceptions, or misperceptions, of disability. So, rather than moan about the lack of representation of disabled people, I thought I would do something about it myself and write it.
I feel that I have only just begun to scratch the surface of stories about disability, and how to bring them to life on screen. I want to create something fresh and exciting that does not hinge on clichéd stereotypes of disabled people. I feel I am well-placed to do so from my own experiences.
You’ve said that both Awaken and The Black Box aren’t necessarily documentaries, they’re stories. Without giving too much away, what kind of stories are you trying to tell?
The best way to describe Awaken and The Black Box is to say that they’re fictional films that are inspired by true events, so a docufiction style. I could have told the stories of Awaken and The Black Box in a documentary style, but they would have looked a lot like telethon appeals, which I was keen to avoid. Rather than present my condition as a series of facts, I wanted to use it to tell a story. So they essentially use fiction to tell the truth.
In addition, both of the films are about elements of my life that have been reworked into an abstract setting in order to make ME better understood by people. In Awaken, you see a man trying to achieve his dreams, but he is held back by a number of issues, including ME, an autistic spectrum disorder and benefit cuts. In The Black
In The Black Box the main character is a writer who has been unable to finish a story because of his ME. This creates tension between the man’s muse, who wants him to finish a project, and his ME, which continues to slow him down.