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We Might Regret This: 'We wanted to show the spectrum of ableism'

Two white women are facing forward and looking to the right. The woman on the left has blonde hair that goes past her shoulders, while the other, a wheelchair user, has shoulder length dark brown hair Image source, Roughcut/Â鶹ԼÅÄ
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Actors Elena Saurel (left) and Kyla Harris (right) play best friends who undergo a huge transition when Elena becomes Kyla's personal assistant

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The co-writer of We Might Regret This, Kyla Harris, discusses her new series - and why we need more sex scenes with disabled people.

We Might Regret This is a new Â鶹ԼÅÄ Two comedy-drama where intimacy and crossed boundaries are front and centre.

The series explores what would happen if your best friend turns into your personal assistant - and it all starts with a sex scene.

Filmmaker and disability activist Kyla Harris, who wrote the series, says: "I think it's really important to see [a sex scene like that] on screen because disabled people are often just so desexualised or not seen as viable romantic partners."

In the series, Kyla also stars as Freya, a 30-something artist and wheelchair user.

Actor Elena Saurel plays her impulsive best friend Jo, who turns up out of the blue at the home Kyla has just moved into with her boyfriend Abe (played by Darren Boyd).

The show confronts assumptions some non-disabled people make about disabled people, Kyla says, including the assumption that dating a disabled person means you are expected to handle their care.

'Boundaries get really blurred'

Although some might draw comparisons between Kyla and her on-screen character, she says the show is "more inspired [by my life] than autobiographical".

She and her co-writer Lee Getty saw the potential for a comedy-drama from their real-life decade of creative collaboration.

For some of this time, Lee also became Kyla's personal assistant (PA).

PAs help with care and general tasks to enable individuals to live independently.

Kyla says hiring a friend as a PA is "very different" to eventually befriending someone you hire in this role.

"I think boundaries get really blurred," she says. "That's what Freya and Jo are both really wrangling with."

In her own life, Kyla says she learned the importance of setting boundaries with friends-turned-PA.

Image source, Roughcut/Â鶹ԼÅÄ
Image caption,

In We Might Regret This, Kyla has just moved in with her boyfriend Abe (played by Darren Boyd)

During the making of We Might Regret This, Kyla offered her co-star Elena training sessions to understand what it means to be a PA.

"Elena was just so willing to get stuck in and learn what was physically needed," she says.

"It really opened her eyes, because she didn't really know much about disability or have a very wide definition of what it means to be disabled."

Although the series focuses on Freya and Jo's new dynamic, we see every other character struggling in some way - like Kyla's boyfriend Abe who is still married to his estranged wife Jane (Sally Phillips) or their obnoxious son Levi (Edward Bluemel).

For Kyla, this was a decision she made based on her own experience. "While Lee was my PA, there were just so many times where I thought, 'who's messier, me or her?'"

'Ableism is so pervasive'

Another aspect of the series is how Freya's loved ones slip very easily into ableist behaviour. is the discrimination of someone with a disability or medical condition, or when they are treated differently because of this.

Abe and Jo frequently make assumptions about Freya's feelings in a situation, or step in for her rather than letting her assert herself when faced with a problem. This behaviour can be condescending and demeaning for Freya, as we see in the series.

"Ableism is so pervasive," says Kyla. "We wanted to show the spectrum of ableism, which could be well-meaning people [or] it could be overt prejudice and discrimination.

"It can also happen in really subtle microaggressions that so many disabled people have to deal with every day."

Being disabled feels like being a "problem-solver all the time," Kyla explains, "and a lot of that is because of ableism."

In one scene in We Might Regret This, the only disabled toilet in a building is out of use, so Jo has to administer a catheter for the first time for Freya in an alleyway.

Unsurprisingly, urine makes its way onto Jo, but the pair are able to laugh about the situation.

"The scenarios that you are [put in as a disabled person] can also lead to a really fertile kind of comedy," says Kyla.

You can watch We Might Regret This on Â鶹ԼÅÄ iPlayer.

You can listen to this Access All interview on Â鶹ԼÅÄ Sounds.