Keep Fit and Have Fun!

By Lisa Bendall

The pair of them would show up in your living room unannounced, often right in the middle of a sitcom or movie. There they were, Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod: stretching, running, cooking, biking. And they would always smile. And they would never gasp for breath. They made it look easy. Even fun.

Between 1988 and 1994, Hal and Joanne created 128 of the 90-second "Body Break" segments, which were broadcast in commercial slots and featured exercise, health and nutrition tips. Hal and Joanne designed the shows to motivate the viewer to keep fit. The couple gained popularity quickly across Canada.

Their recent contract with television’s Life Network marks an exciting development for the producer team. They have signed on to create 13 half-hour programs of "Body Break," which will be aired on Life Network during prime time throughout the broadcasting season.

An intriguing component of these new shows is that people with disabilities appear in virtually every one.

Five years ago, "Body Break" featured a wheelchair tennis player. It was a valuable learning experience for Hal and Joanne, who came to realize that people with disabilities are just another part of our diverse Canadian community. And it is a realistic image of our community that they have strived to portray to their audience. Hal calls it "sprinkling together a little salt and pepper."

"We try to be inclusive of everyone," says Hal. "That’s been our philosophy." He disagrees with producers who argue that it’s too difficult to find actors with disabilities and members of other minority groups. Hal and Joanne find no obstacles when they deal with Susan Charness Talent, a Toronto-based agency that is always able to come through with a client or two when "Body Break" wants to feature active people with disabilities.

Hal admits that they’ve been reluctant to profile the sport of wheelchair basketball on the show "because that’s kind of traditional. There’s much more than that." The activities people with disabilities are involved in on "Body Break" include tennis, golf and line dancing.

Hal recognizes the incredible influence media has on shaping public attitudes. And he takes it seriously. "The media has not only a tremendous responsibility, but a tremendous power," he says.

Of television, he observes, "I think that this medium largely dictates what’s going to occur. I’m black and Irish, and Joanne is German and Italian. And the number-one question we get asked is whether or not we’re married. People say, You guys look so good together. It’s because they’ve seen us together so often on TV and they think it just fits. My dad’s black and my mom’s white, and 40 years ago people weren’t saying, You look so good together!

"So I think that the media has a great deal of influence on changing attitudes. Advertisers wouldn’t spend billions of dollars on it if they didn’t think it was going to sway our opinions."

Hal has faced racism himself, and believes this may be why he is more sensitive to stereotypes against people with disabilities. He tries to convince other producers to be more inclusive. "If we who control the fate of the show don’t make a conscious effort, then who will?"

But, he says, "I try not to let my political issues come to the forefront. Hopefully, on "Body Break," first we’re entertaining, secondly we’re educational, and thirdly, we’re enlightening."

There are other personal facets of Hal that may have shaped his attitude. As a child, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. His dream was to be a sportscaster, but he was convinced at an early age that this career option was limited since his learning disability made reading a teleprompter very difficult. His solution? "I thought, well, what I’ll do is I’ll make a show for myself, and then nobody can fire me!" he laughs. Today, he memorizes everything he does on the show instead of relying on the teleprompter.

If you have a physical disability, says Hal, "the struggle is a little harder to find ways to keep fit. You have to watch your diet even more. It’s more difficult aerobically to burn off the calories. But where there’s a will there’s a way."

I ask Hal what message he would like to give to ABILITIES readers with disabilities across Canada. He replies, "I would say the same thing to them as I would say to an able-bodied person: Keep fit and have fun. That’s what we say at the end of every show. We’re saying it to and for everyone."

(Lisa Bendall is an ABILITIES staff writer.)