Push Girls: Reality Show Roll Models

19 Jan 2012: Unfortunately, Hollywood and disabilities aren’t a likely match, but a hit US television producer is hoping to change all that this year, with her new show, ‘Push Girls’, which is set to air in the US in April.

Emmy nominated producer, Gay Rosenthal was the Executive Producer behind the hit documentary series ‘Little People, Big World’. The show that ran for six seasons followed the Roloff family, which consists of parents, Matt and Amy Roloff, who are both little people, with four children, one whom is also a little person.

The show, which highlighted the daily struggles that the Roloff family faced, being little people in a world built for giants, was so successful that Gay has decided to go in another unlikely direction, which she says, was a difficult idea to pitch to television studios.

‘Push Girls’, is a reality television program that is going to follow the careers and lives of four gorgeous women in wheelchairs. The four girls consists of 32 year old Mia, an ex swimmer who lost feeling in her legs from a rare brain haemorrhage when she was just a teenager, 42 year old Auti, an ex dancer who was paralysed in a car accident, 36 year old Angela, who was an actress that severed her spinal cord in a car crash, which left her with no feeling from her torso down and 28 year old model, Tiphany, who was the sole survivor of a drink driving accident in high school.

These women have had to adjust to their new lives, which were not in their plans. They’ve had to alter or change the direction of their career paths, and are facing new daily life challenges, such as divorce, falling pregnant, and trying to fit into an able bodied world that doesn’t seem to offer space for ambitious disabled women.

Gay is hoping that the new series will highlight the challenges people with disabilities face, as it highlighted the Roloff’s family struggles, and brought awareness to the world of little people. Gay also wants this show to bring a new level of awareness and understanding to people with disabilities. The show, which is set in Hollywood, will watch these four friends, as they try to break into fame, struggle with relationships, and discovering what their career paths will now hold.

As much as a lot of people are reality TV’d out, I think that this is a really important series, and I hope that it reaches a wide audience. There just aren’t enough people with disabilities out there, and in your face, for people to see. There are still far too many stereotypes around, and able-bods are still afraid of getting to know people with disabilities, they’re afraid of helping them, or hiring them in employment. I can’t wait to hear what people think when this show finally airs, and I’ve got my fingers crossed that it will be available to watch in Australia!

To read an article about the show, from ‘Realscreen.com’, click here: http://realscreen.com/2012/01/16/sundance-channel-greenlights-push-girls/

Angela Rockwood


Auti Angel


Mia Schaikewitz


Tiphany Adams