When the “Wicked” film casting call went out in 2022 for Nessarose – the wheelchair-using younger sister to future Wicked Witch Elphaba – the enthusiastic response from disabled actresses was seen all over social media. In my Facebook feed alone I had several wheelchair-using friends who were excited to audition and, more importantly, were ecstatic that director Jon M. Chu was making a point to cast the character authentically. It was definitely far more than the long-running Broadway show had done, never actually casting a wheelchair-using actress over the last 20 years of its run.
