The Media Access Awards is the only awards show honoring writers, producers and performers with disabilities and the depiction of the disability experience in film, television, and new media.

This site expands upon our annual event with weekly content: behind-the-scenes material from the awards, video interviews with our favorite stars, inspiring stories from our community, and practical educational content from the creators celebrated on our stage.

At the 2018 Media Access Awards, actress Marlee Matlin (pictured) presented the PGA George Sunga Award to the producers of SundanceTV’s show, This Close. The show counted 18 deaf employees, on both sides of the camera. You can watch Matlin speak on the MAA stage in 2018 (video embedded below).

We also support young people with disabilities looking for representation and access to these creative fields. We serve as a strategic partner and resource for Hollywood creators and companies developing content involving disabilities.

The contemporary incarnation of our organization began in 2010, when Hollywood producer Deborah Calla programmed the Media Access Awards at the Peninsula Hotel. Joined by TV writer-producer and author Allen Rucker, the Media Access Awards have become a beacon in the entertainment industry for the 50 million people around the country with disabilities.

Entertainment programming plays a critical role in shaping our view of the world and the people around us, so it’s important that the stories we help bring to life reflect the diversity of world in which we live. – Deborah Calla

Photo by Araya Diaz/Getty Images for Media Access Awards