Why Ali Stroker’s Tony Win is so Important

Tonight, Oklahoma star Ali Stroker was the first person who uses a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. She is also the first woman in a wheelchair to be on Broadway. For context, she was on Broadway for the first time in 2015.

2015. Until that point, there had never been a wheelchair user to star in a Broadway show. Let’s set aside how absolutely unacceptable that is.

Let’s focus on Ali. And what her win means for so many of us who use wheelchairs who have always felt left out. Ignored. Invisible. Less than Unrepresented. Unimportant.

Ali understood the gravity of her win tonight and what it means for girls like her all over the world. Ali said,

“This award is for every kid who has a disability, a limitation or a challenge who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena. You are.”

I cannot begin to describe to you what it meant for me to watch her speak these words. To say Ali is a trailblazer for all of us is an understatement.

It was bittersweet to watch her in this moment. Because in 2019, she shouldn’t be the first. So as my heart is filled with so much joy for her and how much she deserved this award, it still breaks my heart that not only is she the first, she’s the only. In this year, wheelchair users are such an anomaly in the entertainment industry. It frustrates me knowing that while she broke down this barrier, we still have such a long fight ahead of us to be included and treated as equals.

But Ali Stroker got us all one step closer to equality tonight. To more inclusion in an industry that we’ve been told so often that there’s not room for us. Hell, most places in the theater and comedy industries still aren’t even wheelchair accessible, so just going to work is a challenge.

I can’t thank Ali enough for her hard work, dedication, humility and grace. You did this so it’s easier for the people who come after you and every child using a wheelchair who follows your path will owe part of their career for you.

For the industries that have ignored us for so long, Ali is proof we can do it all. That you are limiting us, we are not limited in our abilities.

*I’m bursting with emotion over this historic moment tonight, so this piece may be updated.