Maysoon Zayid HARDtalk

Now it's time for HARDtalk.

Welcome to HARDtalk.

I'm Zeinab Badawi.

My guest today is funny.

Comedian, actor and disability

advocate Maysoon Zayid,

who was born in the United States

to Palestinian immigrant parents.

Since birth, she has been living

with cerebral palsy,

a condition that affects

the brain and nervous system.

The conversation explores

the power of comedy,

particularly its ability to help

people overcome disadvantage

and prejudice,

and asks where the line needs

to be draw between humour

and going too far.

THEME MUSIC PLAYS

Maysoon Zayid, welcome to HARDtalk

Thank you so much for having me.

A

really want to shake your hand at a

shake too much to do so.

Consider it

done. You said that you could win

the gold medal of pressure Olympics.

I would definitely win the gold

medal, I am Palestinian, Muslim, a

woman of colour, disabled and I live

in Donald Trump's America. You do

not get more oppressed than that.

We

will come to Donald Trump's America

perhaps a little bit later. What

does it mean to have cerebral palsy.

In my case might cerebral palsy was

a result of the Doctor Who delivered

me being drunk so it now I appear to

be drunk the entire time even that I

sober. It is a neurological disorder

that affects muscle co-ordination

and it affects people differently.

You have said, however, you have 99

problems and cerebral palsy is just

one of them. Have you always had

such a positive attitude towards

your condition and where does it

come from?

I was raised as an equal

by my parents. My parents

acknowledged my disability, they

accommodate for it did not focus on.

Whatever my sisters had to do, I had

to do. If they were cleaning, if

they went to public school, my

parents fought and made sure a two

could go to public school. When I

was born the doctors told my parents

I would never walk. This is

something really important. There is

no shame in it not walk in, using a

wheelchair, a Walker, a cane, and

sometimes people say it will check

bound by that is incorrect. Mobility

frees people. When I was born I was

born into different worlds. My

father was determined to teach me

how to book.

So you derive that kind

of positive attitude from York

close-knit Palestinian family, in

particular your late father?

My

father encouraged me and my mother

strengthened me. My mother is a

tiger mum. She showed no mercy. The

other day I was on TV, she told me

my hair looked terrible and I Was

Glad she told the because I'd learnt

for the next time. My father was

made cheerleader. He kept saying you

can do it, yes you can can. He

really believed I could do anything

I dreamt of and encourage me to take

chances and also to accept when I

could not.

You have spoken paid

would walk on your father's feet and

he would dangle a dollar note in

order to entice you to walk as much

as possible. That is one small

example of how you do make jokes

about having cerebral palsy...

And

how he approached it in a fun way.

The dollar bill was really what

worked the best Premier because my

inner stripper was so strong that I

was running in the lead as by

kindergarten -- in stiletto.

Might

some people see it as making light

of something which is quite serious

and restricting the many people

because of the way society deals

with people with disabilities?

I

talk about my disability honestly

and with humour, making it more

accessible and less frightening.

That applies to people with

disabilities and also to caretakers

and parents. It is so important that

we destigmatise disability. My

disability is visible but others are

invisible. We do not acknowledge the

fact that sometimes babies are not

healthy. I want people to see that

regardless of what disability a

person has, they still have

potential, they can have joy and

love. People think of people with

disabilities as happy angels who

never grow up and they get married

and don't have kids but we have the

potential to live full lives whether

we are global, non-verbal, mobile,

you mobile. I approach my disability

the way I approach my other 98th

problems. It empowers people and

helps not fear disability in others.

When you saw your more able body

sisters and you so you perhaps could

not do everything they could, did

you feel in any way angry and

frustrated?

I did not really feel

disabled until got to college. In

addition to my family, my friends

were very supportive. I have the

same best friends as since I was

five years old. You are in a

mainstream school. Yes, my parents

had to fight to get me in a

mainstream school. They wanted to

send me to a special school with

children with down syndrome. If I

did not go to a mainstream school

would not be sitting here. One of

the most important things in the

world is to make sure children with

disabilities...

Including those with

Down's syndrome...

All disabilities,

we all have a right to education and

not everyone is going to be a hard

surgeon. I certainly do not have the

cord and nation. -- heart surgeon.

You make a living from being a

stand-up comedian and making jokes

about your disability one is about

the car park.

At some point people

have jabbed about being disabled. It

is Christmas evil, looking for

parking. You sit 16 empty

handicapped spaces and you wish, can

I just be a little disabled but

also, there is a flipside to that. I

use of the disabled parking and some

people don't realise that I disabled

so we have to understand that

disability does not all look the

same in every person.

But making

jokes like that, it takes a lot of

skill to take on what some people

see as a taboo subject. Where do you

draw the line between humour and

what ends up just making fun,

mocking someone with a disability?

I

tell personal stories and because I

do that, I do not believe their

Ariza line I can cross. Comedy is

taking risks. Comedy you're always

pushing that line.

Where is that

line? Your jokes might encourage

somebody to block a person with a

disability is?

The line I draw is a

do not find humour in cruelty so I

have stopped using words that are

painful to people, I stop mocking

things that hurt people because I

want my audience to be happy and

laugh, I do not want to invoke their

darkest memories, trauma and pain.

It is always putting my audience

players.

Rick Vasa has made jokes

about a dead baby, breaking the law

or causing someone actual physical

harm, hurting someone feelings is

almost impossible to objectively

quantify, and to you agree?

I

absolutely agree. I did several dead

baby jokes because context matters

at comedy is subjective. I make

choices because I do not find being

abusive funny but, if someone else

can take something super dramatic

and make it funny, it is their right

to try and do so.

Do you think you

have more of a right to make comedy

about people with disabilities

because you are someone with a

disability yourself. Joan Rivers

made jokes about the Holocaust were

she said that is OK because I am

Jewish.

I feel the same way about

disability. I do not find it

entertaining all humourous when

comedians who do not have

disabilities mock or imitate

disabilities. It is part of who I

am...

It gives you the right?

The

same way that a person of colour has

a right to talk about being a person

of colour. It gives me the right to

talk about it. But I never pretend

that... I have no right to go on

stage and not an intellectual

disability just because I happen to

be disabled. The fact that I have a

personal connection allows me to

talk about it in a way that others

should not, honestly.

You have ended

up on social media being in the

object of bullying. I mean, that is

the kind of risk you run?

I have

been subjected to a lot of bullying

online. In the past two years, I

have been subjected to death

threats. I took the guys who do

comedy with me and they never do get

threats like that. They have people

say they want to punch them. I have

people say I going to rape you so

your father on it kills you. It is a

deeply frightening world out there

but I refused to be silent. While I

was subjected to bullying, I talk

about it in my head talk and when I

did, I had women, teens, girls,

worldwide reach out and say I have

been bullied. -- TED.

I gave them

the power to survive. Why not just

ignore them as Mac I am a comedian

and we are used to being heckled and

when someone heckles are you you

need to take them down.

My presses

is I tried to educate firstly

because you would not believe how

many people are genuinely ignorant.

You are upset by the bullying also?

I am upset by the death threats, I

disturbed by the bullying. It does

not make me go and be subconscious

abound my lips, the fact I slowed a

bit. It makes me go, I am on TV and

you are not. It empowers me. The

death threats scare me.

Do you wish

at any time you had not sought such

a high-profile?

If I had grown up

with social media would never have

stepped good on television but now

it is my destiny and I will not let

anyone take me down.

Why not just to

get your disability is? One British

comedian has said about her cerebral

palsy, I have accepted it. I wasted

years worrying about the way I

talked and what. She says she is no

longer defined by cerebral palsy a

quick look outside by tiny world was

enough to me to feel guilty.

Millions of others live in war,

poverty,...

Cerebral palsy doesn't define who I

am. I accepted, but it is part of my

story. ICAC be to include it in my

comedy because it's part of who I

am. -- I am happy to include. If I

want to take a drink right now I

need a straw. Depending that's not

the reality does nothing to lessen

the impact my life.

You went to

university in Arizona and studied

drama. You said how you were very

disappointed when there was a role

in a drama which needed somebody

with cerebral palsy and they cast an

able-bodied person in the role.

So I

was a straight-A student in theatre.

I knew I had talent, a new eye was a

good actress and I knew I wasn't

getting cast but I didn't know why.

Senior year they had a story about a

girl with cerebral palsy and I was

like... I was literally born to do

this. And then I didn't get the role

and when I asked why they said it

was because I couldn't do the

stumps. The reality was -- stunts.

The reality was the university was

reflecting Hollywood, which shuns

people with disabilities. We are by

far the largest minority in the

world. We are 20% of the population

and only 2% of the images you see on

American television. Of those 2% 95%

are played by nondisabled actors. A

lot of us in the disability

community, which is kind of led by

me, I'm kind of the queen of us,

find it very offensive for

nondisabled actors to play

disability on screen. We think of it

like race. It's not something that

you can act. When someone plays

cerebral palsy and they are

twitching and flailing about, that's

not what the disability years and

it's offensive, inauthentic and it

takes away our opportunities.

As

well as being someone with a

disability you are also an Arab

American and another way you've

tried to use your comedy is you've

tried to normalise the perceptions

of Muslims when many are really

seeking to demonise them. In 2003

you co-founded the New York Arab

American comedy festival and he

travelled all over the world to

showcase the talents of Arab

Americans right across the

entertainment industry. Do you feel

that Arabs or Muslims in the

entertainment industry are also

getting a raw deal?

Yeah. Starting

off with Arabs, it was Arab and

Muslim isn't synonymous. Arabs were

trailblazers in American comedy. We

have Danny Thomas, this great

comedic figures. Posted 911 we

became caricatures of terrorists and

nothing more and so that was

something I was really concerned

about shifting and giving Arabs the

opportunity to be seen on screen as

something other than a taxi driver

terrorist. But also being the person

of colour is a challenge and Arab is

considered a person of colour, so

you have to break through that

barrier.

I was going to say,

couldn't it be an advantage? One

Arab actors said recently that when

he complained about being depicted

as a terrorist and saying it was

racial profiling he was told, you're

lucky and you can use your ethnicity

as a playing card in which the

industry overlooks white actors.

That's an obscene comment, that

people even consider that being a

minority in Hollywood is a good

thing. It's not. We are still

completely outnumbered.

But it's not

just him, others have Arab heritage.

One of them won an Emmy.

He was put

on screen by an Arab. People

breakthrough, matter who they are.

There are always exceptions to the

rule. At the reality is I haven't

been given that opportunity. I had

to write my own TV show to get on

television. I have a deal from my

own sitcom with universal studios. I

can't even get a guest role to play

as before I star on my own show.

That's how wants discrimination

there is. So when we have

breakthrough stars, people who defy

the odds, it's because they defy the

odds. It's not because there are

genuinely more opportunities for

minorities than white people. On

television.

Especially with

disability. You said Arab and Muslim

of course are not synonymous and you

are absolutely right, but when it

comes to the way Muslims are

perceived the American actor Samuel

L Jackson says young Muslim

Americans need to start telling

their stories in the same way that

African-Americans fought and found

ways to make films about their lives

and experiences. Do you see people

doing that?

Is it happening? I

absolutely see people doing that and

I'm one of the people who is doing

that. I think I have a real

privilege as a Muslim because as a

Muslim woman I am not what people

picture when they think of a Muslim

woman, but I represent a lot of

other Muslim women. Not every Muslim

woman chooses to cover. Most Muslim

women are not being oppressed in

America, where I live and where a

corrupt. So I think it's a great

opportunity for me to have written a

show with a Muslim family as a

centrepiece, where the father is

devout, the mother is a doctor who

doesn't believe in God, to show that

Muslims are again not a monolith. We

are not all these one note screaming

terrorists that we are depicted as

on television, that Muslim women to

look like me, that you can be devout

and have faith, and still live 100%

at Clematis to the American

lifestyle that I think right now

they are trying to other as. --

acclimatise. So people often say to

me, go back to your own country, and

I say, where? New Jersey? Audrey

tell me I have to accept Jesus and I

say I do, he is a profit in Islam.

-- or they tell me.

Despite your

initial comment about living in

Donald Trump's America, when you

look at all the opinion polls, Arab

Americans are actually quite well

integrated as US citizens. When you

look at the indices they are better

off than the average person in the

population, they've got high

education achievements and that sort

of thing.

So it's not all bad. It's

not all bad and again Arab Islam

isn't a monolith, some are more

integrated, some are less, but also

80% of Americans are Christian and

that has an impact on their ability

to blend in.

Seizing the problem is

more of a Muslim one than an Arab

one? -- so you see.

I do and that's

different to a decade ago. Right now

it is absolutely terrifying to be

Muslim in America.

Why?

We are under

siege every day. Hate against

Muslims is mainstream. Courts agree

with hate against Muslims and we are

not really given a voice to combat

the negative images that are being

displayed of us.

Do you experience

it yourself?

Every day. I feel the

anti-Muslim sentiment every day.

In

what way?

I was living in the New

York area posts 9/11 and I never

felt this kind of hate and backlash

and dehumanisation. First of all I

do find it very disturbing that an

American president can invoke and

incite violence against Muslims

without any ramifications.

He

wouldn't say that, he just says...

Are you referring to the videos?

To

the rhetoric and the videos.

He

would just say he is stating facts,

that there's a problem with

terrorism that is committed by

people of the Muslim faith and he is

just stating facts.

IT is not

actually stating facts. As somebody

who is watching it, I know that he

is inciting violence against me. I

know he is ignoring the true dangers

in America. I mean, in Las Vegas,

600 people were shot. That's a true

risk.

Finally, you go to the

Palestinian territories, you've

worked with refugees, bringing

comedy as a kind of therapy to

change people's lives. You've talked

about how you use comedy for people

with disabilities, Muslim Americans,

that kind of thing. Does comedy

really have the power to do all

that? To transform lives and

attitudes in society?

Comedy

absolutely has the ability to

transform lives. I always say if

someone is laughing at you they are

less likely to kill you, but also if

someone is laughing they are more

likely to understand something that

they never understood before.

Because there a difference between

lecturing a person or yelling a

person for saying something ignorant

and getting on stage and doing a

joke and having them realise, I'm

the biggest, I'm the one who didn't

know the facts. -- bigot. This woman

is a Muslim and there's no reason

for me to hate her. When I do it

worldwide it's more about the

disability because when I do comedy

worldwide I am putting out an image

a lot of people have never seen. A

functional independent disabled

person. And it lets them know they

have the potential, or their child

has the potential, the XL in the

same way I have.

Thank you so much

for coming on HARDtalk you are so

welcome.

And if I can can, you can

can!