'Can I touch your burn scars?' CBC Gem series You Can't Ask That is back for Season 3
8 new episodes feature people living with disabilities who give frank answers about their lives.
What's it like dating with a disability? Why can't people living with mental illness 'just be stronger'? Is it OK to use the disabled bathroom? In 2019 a groundbreaking series called You Can't Ask That debuted in Canada. It featured people living with disabilities giving frank answers to questions about their lives. Now You Can't Ask That is back for a third season, now available on CBC Gem.
What's new for Season 3?
The new season features eight episodes dealing with issues like memory loss, surviving a burn, growing up with a disabled parent, living with depression, owning a guide dog, parenting a child with a disability, surviving a brain injury and dealing with chronic pain.
You Can't Ask That producer Jennifer Gatien says the contributors "want to participate in setting the record straight. They want to bring down those taboos and bring down those barriers and talk about things openly and honestly."
One episode, 'Memory Loss', features Katrina O'Neil, a young mother who over a decade of her memories after going into cardiac arrest at the age of 29. When she came out of a coma, she thought she was 15 again and she had no memory of her three children. Her daughter, Lily talks about how her life has been impacted in another episode, 'Growing Up With A Disabled Parent'.
In another, Athanasia Houvarda and Dan Plexman (pictured above) share their experiences as burn survivors who found each other and fell in love in a support group.
How are the participants chosen?
Producers spend months choosing the right participants, reaching out to advocacy groups and participating in Facebook groups in order to find the right mix of Canadians. "These are real people and most of them have never done this before," says Gatien.
Where do the questions come from?
The questions are anonymous and were crowdsourced through social media. Producers selected the top 12 most popular and impactful of those queries. Then they invited the guests into their studio and just let the cameras roll, says Gatien: "Off you go. Tell us how you feel. Answer a question if you want to. Don't answer a question if you don't want to. Set the record straight, get whatever it is you want off your chest."
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Some of the questions are surprising. A parent who was asked whether he still has time to have sex as a parent of a child with a disability replied, "No, sorry, not answering that one!"
"That's another really fun part of the show. If you watch an episode, there's kind of two parts. There's the reaction to the question, which oftentimes is fantastic. And then from there they go into their answers, which are really fun, too," says Gatien.
Other topics are much more serious. One of this season's episodes deals with depression, and Gatien says the participants gave candid answers about their struggles with very dark thoughts.
"Multiple times our eyes [would be] welling up with tears. It was really so touching the courage that people had to share their stories with us. That's really special."
What have been some of the most popular moments on the series so far?
Some scenes from the series have resonated with audiences and gone viral on social media.
David Roche, who was born with a large facial tumour, is well, inspiring.
This video sparked lots of great discussion about self-identification.
And Owen, who has trouble seeing and hearing, was asked if he ever thought about dating. His interpretation of the question is uniquely adorable.
Says Gatien, "The series allows you to listen to Canadians who are open and honest, who are willing to share their stories, who are doing it for the right reasons. They really hope that it will help others."
Watch all three seasons of You Can't Ask That for free now on CBC Gem.
