A history of disabled characters on New Zealand television

Read the transcript of Kitty's podcast episode below: 

[MELLOW MUSIC PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND THROUGHOUT THE EPISODE] Can you think of a disabled TV character?

(VOLUME INCREASES) If you thought of Artie from Glee, I swear to God… I did too.

If so, what is their disability? Is it physical? Neurological? Neurodevelopmental? Something else? Is the disability the focus of their character? Is the disability represented fairly and accurately? Is the character played by a disabled actor? And perhaps most importantly – and I swear this is the last question – how did this character make you feel?

Kia ora, ko Kitty ahau and I am a community reporter for The D*List. Welcome to The D*Watchlist. Uh, I’m not quite sure what this is going to be. For now, it’s a mini-podcast on the history of disabled characters in NZ media. It could be just me, it could be other people. it might be other things, like an article or a zine, um, about the way that disabled characters make us think about ourselves.

So, a little bit of history. When it comes to television, Aotearoa is still a relatively young player. America had its first television broadcast in 1928; the U.K. in 1932; Australia in 1956 and then us? 1960 at the earliest. Since our first written-for-TV programmes landed on-screen in 1963, we’ve made leaps and bounds in the medium. Rather than just broadcasting whatever the BBC had sent us, we started creating our own programmes that reflected our unique experiences as New Zealanders.

By the time my generation rolled around, television in Aotearoa had really found its footing. I spent my weekday afternoons under the supervision of Sticky TV, Juice TV, C4 Select, Studio 2, Squirt or if I was desperate, The Erin Simpson Show.

[MUSIC: THE ERIN SIMPSON SHOW THEME SONG]

♫ ERIN SIMPSON: So, come and take it! ♫

Most of these shows were filmed in Ōtautahi Christchurch. In the 1980s, the city was a hotbed for television production, particularly children’s programming, which is honestly still the case today. At the time, TVNZ owned multiple buildings in Christchurch, including a 14-storey building right in the heart of the CBD. So, this building housed numerous productions until its abrupt closure caused by the 2011 earthquake.

But… (SIGHS) long before Matt Gibb was cutting it up with a CGI penguin... before Erin Simpson was changing the face of rock music in a vacant office floor... before gunge had ever soaked the face of an unsuspecting seven-year-old on a cold Sunday morning, there was 1984’s The Kids From O.W.L. Cue the theme song.

[MUSIC: THE KIDS FROM O.W.L. THEME SONG]

♫ MAN: There’s a fuss about the town that’s just evil coming down. Slime! ♫ But, hey, have you heard? There’s a chance with the bird, O.W.L.!

♫ They’ll put slime on the skids with the help of the kids. O.W.L!

♫ The Kids From O.W.L! ♫

OK, so The Kids From O.W.L. was fictional – read: not real. It was one of many kids’ shows produced by the legendary Kim Gabara (maybe it’s jar-bar-ah - I don’t know, there’s no way to find out, I’m sorry). What made this show stand out from the rest, at least for me, is that the two lead characters were disabled.

[MUSIC FROM ‘THE KIDS FROM O.W.L. PLAYS IN THE BACKGROUND]

The Kids From O.W.L. was a superhero spy show about two disabled kids, Jackie and Mike, who worked for a secret government agency called O.W.L, the Organization for World Liberty. O.W.L’s enemies were S.L.I.M.E – the Southern Latitude's International Movement for Evil. Not only were the crime-fighting duo disabled, but their mobility aids were their superpowers! They had laser beam-firing crutches, they had computerised wheelchairs, they had communication devices in there, there were stun guns. It was pretty awesome.

So, some of SLIME’s schemes included jamming every elevator in town, uh, slowing down all the clocks so they would lose thousands of man-hours everyday. Also, what are “man-hours”?

[KITTY’S DISTORTED VOICE ECHOES] What are man-hours?!

And also, importing giant poisonous ladybugs that could kill with one bite.

[SCI-FI SOUND EFFECTS FROM ‘THE KIDS FROM O.W.L]

Sources inform me that S.L.I.M.E have developed some new form of chemical that has an instant hardening effect on anything it comes in contact with. Obviously, we cannot allow them to retain it. Mrs… needs a sample for analysis; you are to obtain this chemical for her.

The show was produced in association with what we knew at the time as… [AUDIO: NZ ON SCREEN ARCHIVE] The New Zealand Crippled Children Society.

…now known as CCS Disability Action. To spread awareness of their kaupapa, CCSDA initiated disability awareness programmes – so, one of these was a puppet show that toured kura across the motu, and the other was The Kids From O.W.L.

So… (SIGHS) The actors playing the lead characters, sorry to say, they were not actually disabled – this is pretty typical for the time and to be honest, still happens nowadays. But because the show was produced with CCS Disability Action, that meant that the young actors could research at the Children’s Society. They went on camps, they met disabled kids, they got to use their mobility aids in rehearsals and– as well as their own lives. Actors got aches from propelling the wheelchairs and Lisa Bridger-Walker, who played Jackie, wore fibreglass leg casts in order to make her movements more realistic. Her arms ached and she even sprained her wrists, which is a pretty standard injury for those kinds of mobility aids, I’m told.

Lisa’s experience on the show actually made her wish those crutches had stunguns. She told a reporter, “People stare so much. You get really self-conscious. It made me aware of what life must be like for disabled people. But it didn't make me feel sorry for them. It made me angry with able-bodied people.”

Producer Kim Gabara was pleased that it brought home for his actors how difficult life with a disability could be. He says the reason, though, that he couldn’t hire disabled actors was because… (CLEARS THROAT)

[OLD-TIMEY RADIO VOICE FILTER] “...the crowded and difficult conditions of television studios, with cables, lights and plywood sets strewn about.”

Which, I think, today we could call a skill issue. Also, just clean up.

The show stated in a newspaper at the time that ‘by showing the two heroes equipped with the latest technology to combat the villains… but at the same time having difficulties negotiating kerbs or reaching light switches, the series hopes to bring home, without comment, the problems that handicapped people have in coping with everyday situations. However, the emphasis is always on entertainment, and the fast-moving script… ensures the heroes get involved in plenty of action.’

Finding this show was kind of crazy. There’s so little about it online that I’m surprised I found anything at all. Um, and stumbling across it was an accident. So, I-I had a complete different plan for this episode, but then I found this show, somehow, despite there being very little information about it online.

When I go back to the questions from the beginning of the episode, I think about – no, their disabilities weren’t labelled; they seemed to be physical. They weren’t played by disabled actors, but the disability wasn’t the focus of the character. I think that’s kind of amazing for the mid-80s, at least. I can’t comment on what that representation is or was like for someone who is physically disabled, but I felt stoked and empowered by these characters. I was kind of astounded that it took place at all.

Now, it’s slightly ironic that I’m putting this on The D*Watchlist since there is only one episode available online – trust me, I tried – but you can watch that one episode on New Zealand On Screen.

That’s all I have for today. Until next time, mā te wā… keep watching? (CHUCKLES) I don’t know.

Kitty Wasasala is part of our Community Reporters Programme for 2026. This programme supports The D*List's commitment to nurturing the next generation of disabled storytellers in Aotearoa. You can read more about our Community Reporters Programme here.