Kate Hood didn’t know she was living since birth. with neurological disease Which will affect her in her later years.
The actress starred in one of Australia’s most popular television series, prisonerwhere she played the character of Cath Maxwell in the eighth and final season, in 1986.
It will also appear in blue heel and four feature films.
And that was then Life has taken an unexpected turn..
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“I have had a neurological disease since birth called hereditary spastic paralysis“A terrible name and a very rare disease,” Hood, 65, tells 9honey.
“I started falling randomly. My legs were suddenly failing when I was 40.”
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“I did the typical actor thing and covered it up, and didn’t tell anyone about it,” Hood says.
She began seeing a chiropractor but after two years of unsuccessful treatment, she was sent to a neurologist who finally diagnosed the condition.
“It took me a very long time to figure out what was going on,” she says, adding that the disease progressed quickly and she couldn’t hide it any longer.
“Her acting career didn’t come to a sudden halt until she started using a walking stick and went from using one cane to using two canes to using a walker and then to using a wheelchair,” she says.
“I’ve been excluded from some things,” she says. “For example, I was excluded from musical theater auditions. I’m still excluded from that, and I imagine I’ll be excluded from it forever.”
Hood refused to give up the career she had spent decades building.
“It took me a long time to figure out what was going on.”
“So, I reinvented myself as a voice artist, and in those days I was able to move around in a manual wheelchair, which weighed six kilograms, and I was able to climb stairs and I was able to stand up to do voiceover and get back in the wheelchair again,” Hood explained.
She also launched her own production company for people with disabilities called Raspberry Ripple Productions.
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Eventually Hood found a new home in the theater, first in I ran away alone With Melbourne Theatre Company and now with Cost of living Which has just concluded its successful run in Queensland and will transfer to the Sydney Theatre Company from 18 July to 18 August.
Cost of living Hood was a huge success. It was directed by Priscilla Jackman and disabled director Dan Da, and was created by playwright Martina Majok.
The play explores the lives of a married couple, two of whom have disabilities and two of whom do not. It explores power dynamics between couples and the financial implications of disability.
Hood plays Annie, whose husband Eddie returns to her after six months of separation. Hood draws on her experience of the loss of dignity and agency that people with disabilities experience in this role.
“She has to have someone to hold the phone for her, someone to feed her, someone to wipe her bottom, someone to put her in bed and get her out of bed,” Hood describes.
“She needs someone to make her a cup of tea and put a straw in it so she can drink it… and then this guy comes back into her life six months later and says, ‘What can I do? I’m here to help you?’ And she’s really mad at him, and for good reason.”
The play is set in the US, so is not covered by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), however Hood has plenty to say about this off stage.
“The National Disability Insurance Scheme is not fit for purpose,” she says. “It should be run by people with disabilities… There are age-related disabilities, but what bothers me personally is that I am being marginalised in the context of elderly care.”
She hopes her work on stage will help raise awareness of the daily struggles faced by people with disabilities.
“My view of the whole thing has always been that we live in the world together and disability is simply part of humanity,” she says.
She hopes the disability community will unite in the face of adversity.
“It’s time for us to come together as a tribe and work things out together,” Hood adds.
Buy your ticket to watch Cost of living here.
Learn more about Hood’s work at Raspberry Ripple Productions is here.
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