The first Disabled doctor on TV? Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER

The first Disabled doctor on TV? Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER

Debuting on the medical drama “ER” in its second season in 1995, Dr Kerry Weaver was one of the first representations of disabled doctors on primetime television. Having a limp in her gait and using a forearm crutch, the character was played by a non disabled actor. Infact, an actress who does have a disability, Christopher Templeton, was denied an audition for the part. (Parsi, 2001) According to archives, the actor Laura Innes was involved in the decision to use a crutch as a prop for the role.

Chet Cooper: When you read for the role of Dr. Kerry Weaver on ER, did you know going in that you would play a person with a disability?

Innes: Yes, when I read for the part, the character was described as having a limp and using a cane. She was written with that intention. I never asked John Wells—the show’s executive producer—but I heard it through the grapevine that when he was observing hospitals, he saw a doctor who had a cane and he thought, “Oh, that’s kind of interesting.”

Johnson: You knew Weaver had a limp, but did they tell you the back story?

Innes: No. When I asked, “Well, what’s her malady or injury?” they said, “We haven’t decided yet.” They wanted to keep it open, and not have it be something that was an issue. We discussed what kind of crutch or cane I should use, and I actually suggested the cuff crutch, because I thought with all the moving around and concerns with cleanliness, that a doctor wouldn’t always want to be grabbing onto a cane or setting it down. With a cuff crutch, it could always be on my arm, and if I was at a trauma table I could have it for support and still use my hands. So that’s how that choice was made. When I got the part and the character was described as having a limp, I didn’t really think about it in terms of the impact as a disability.

(Innes, 2008)

Eventually, in Season 11, we learned that Weaver's limp was caused by congenital hip dysplasia, and in the following season, she had corrective surgery that allowed her to walk without use of the crutch. Ironically, the surgery was, at least in part, driven by Innes' real life health issues caused by using a cane for so many years on the series. As a result we see that disability was both used and eliminated casually.

ER

Innes, L. (2008). Laura Innes - From Acting to Calling Action! (P. Johnson, & C. Cooper, Interviewers) Parsi, K. (2001, December ).

Doctors in Balck and White on the Big and Small Screens . From AMA Journal of Ethics : https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/doctors-black-and-white-big-and-small-screens/2001-12