In November 2001, Daryl Mitchell became paralyzed from the chest down after a horrific motorcycle
accident. The actor, who made his name by playing wise-cracking characters on numerous TV shows and
in movies like Black Knight and 10 Things I Hate About You (we love the no-nonsense Mr. Morgan),
was not about to give up his thriving career just because of his disability.
“It was totally my fault. It was dark, and I didn’t know the roads really well,”
said the actor. “I went around a bend, and on the other side, there was gravel and loose pavement,
and bam, the bike shot right underneath me.” He woke up five days later in the hospital.
The doctors told Daryl that he had messed up his spinal cord and that he was paralyzed.
But, for the actor, it was more amazing than scary. “Me, the most mobile person in the world,
and I couldn’t move. I’d played basketball and baseball and wrestled in school,
and done a whole lot of swimming. And dance? Oh, my God, I was a great dancer.”
In the immediate aftermath, there certainly was hesitation about whether Hollywood would be there
for him. Understandably so, might we say. When he sat down with the producers,
they were nervous to even meet with him, quote, “because they were like,
‘What are we gonna say to him?’” he recounted. Just four months after the accident, though,
he was back on national television on the series Ed. “I just started explaining some of the funny
things that have happened to me since I was in a chair, and it was like, ‘Man, you got the job.’”
Ed star Tom Cavanagh said they weren’t looking to hire someone else,
recalling that the show already had a whole cast of characters. But then they met this guy,
and they thought it’d be crazy not to have him on, with his ability and the outlook he has on life.
Cavanagh, who has also directed on the show, says Daryl was an inspiration,
both on and off the set. “Chill has a way of disarming you with his approach,” he said.
“He puts you at ease with his situation by explaining that there are people out there with
worse disabilities than he has. It’s one of the most incredible things I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Mitchell got full support from his family and friends as well,
including Denzel Washington and Chris Tucker, to continue his career.
When Denzel was nominated for an Oscar, he invited Daryl to join him for the ceremony.
“I knew Denzel was going to win the Oscar. (He won the Best Actor in 2001 for his role
as a corrupt cop in Training Day.) Denzel said, ‘If you’re so sure, come on out here.’
He flew out to attend the ceremony, only to be turned away because the Kodak building did not
have adequate wheelchair seating. “That’s gonna change. Everyone’s going to know about wheelchairs
now that I’m in one. I promise you that.” And that’s exactly what he has been doing
for the last twenty years. Mitchell uses his story to fight for the rights of others. The
actor started the Daryl Mitchell Foundation to raise awareness of spinal cord injury
and serves as the Minority Outreach spokesman for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.
He has also become a strong advocate for employing actors with disabilities.
“It’s really a matter of what we need to do, what we’re willing to do as people with disabilities.
We need to let the world know that we’re here,” he told ABILITY Magazine.
Humor certainly helped the actor make the transition. He believes that making jokes
about the wheelchair makes everyone else a little more comfortable. Sometimes people
will look at another person in a wheelchair and hesitate to make conversation, fearing
they’ll say the wrong thing. Therefore, he makes jokes about it, so people will feel more at ease.
“People associate the wheelchair with being a liability instead of an asset.
So when you come in and let everybody know I am just as human as the next person – I drink, I have
sex – then the wheelchair starts disappearing.” Mitchell understands his privilege when it
comes to being a formerly non-disabled actor. There’s undoubtedly a distance between people
with disabilities like him and those who were born disabled. “A lot of times when I speak on behalf
of the disabled community it’s like I’m feeling, ‘Man, you ain’t been disabled long enough to be
the speaker,” he said. But that compelled him more to utilize his platform to advocate for disability
rights in general — and his voice is necessary. Considering the lack of disabled people,
especially people of color with disabilities, Mitchell’s success is
indicative of the need for more disabled stories. For Mitchell, to lose a role to a skilled actor
just because of stairs isn’t just a loss for the performer, but for the production as a whole.
“One time I asked the producers to come downstairs. I didn’t get
the job, but I set a precedent,” he said. “I still do things to make things accessible
for myself and that’s because being Black in the business I’ve already faced adversity.
There were a lot of things I had to dance around to make things work with me,” he said.
Before the incident, a friend of Daryl’s was a victim of random violence. He was standing
around with a friend when some guys driving by just opened fire. Reportedly, the shooters had
a problem with a rival group of people, went to retaliate, but didn’t realize that the group
they were firing on wasn’t the one they were looking for. So, his friend got hit.
That all happened many years before he got hurt. But being with his friend, doing things with him,
and going places with him opened Mitchell’s eyes a bit. “He’d come out and hang, and I
could definitely see how important accessibility was, just by being with him. When I got hurt,
it was a blessing that he was one of the first people to show up at the hospital.”
According to the Ruderman Family Foundation paper on employment of actors with disabilities on TV,
just 2 percent of characters are played by actors who have disabilities, while non-disabled actors
play a whopping 95 percent. NCIS: New Orleans changed the status quo by hiring Mitchell.
“When we went to create the character, we wrote it into the script: Security Analyst Patton Plame,
who looks and feels a lot like Darryl Mitchell. It is so rare that you get the actor you are looking
for,” one of the show’s executives said. And truly, Darryl is one of those actors,
who the minute they are onscreen, you are drawn to them. He is funny, and he is interesting. He
brings a certain level of energy into the scenes. On the NCIS: New Orleans set, every crew member
understood how to work with him and had absolutely no qualms with aiding in everything from
transferring to creating accessible chairs and other tools to help with his performance.
“Why can’t the industry make this for everyone else?” he said.
The actor has his own Winnebago (a motor home), complete with a ramp, to allow him
a place to relax. He also travels with his two sons, who can help with any physical handling.
But, more importantly, Daryl crafts a set that is understanding of disability.
The accessibility that he utilizes ends up benefiting the rest of the production,
like with those on set that use push cameras, carts, and other wheeled items. In the end,
though, what Mitchell is asking for regarding his disability shouldn’t be controversial in
the grand scheme of things. “Hollywood pays all this money to get certain actors out of
jail or put them in rehab, but if I’m asking for a simple ramp you won’t give me a problem,” he said.
Mitchell thinks that much of the conversations we’re now having regarding disability aren’t
very different from the discussions about Black inclusion in Hollywood. Disability
“is something that’s unusual that they don’t normally have to deal with,” he said.
In the end, it’s up to show runners and others in power to work alongside disabled performers,
to talk to each other, and say that working with a disabled
performer is no different from any other actor. “If Steven Spielberg worked with me, and he tells
some other big producer they’re gonna be like, ‘Well, Steven worked with him, and I’m gonna give
him a shot. What’s the worst that can happen?’” There have been quite a few actors who have
sustained injuries similar to that of Mitchell’s during their career. The difference is that the
majority of those actors are barely ever really heard of again. In other words,
they let their injury stop them from acting and furthering their career. On the other hand, Daryl
refused to let it stop him. On many occasions, producers tweaked the role of the character
to fit the actor in as a wheelchair user. Despite not knowing what life would be like as a
wheelchair user, he did not let that stop him from pursuing his dreams and furthering his career.
Daryl believes that it’s the beginning of a new era in regard to actors with disabilities.
“I’m honored to be the first one that they see. What I don’t like is being the only
one that they continue to see,” he said. That’s all we have for you today, Juicers!
As always, thanks for choosing us. Spread the word, and don’t forget to subscribe and click
that notification bell for more celebrity stories. And we’ll be right back! Be well and be kind.