History Series / Speechless

The series has been lauded as groundbreaking for casting Fowler, [[DisabledCharacterDisabledActor who also has cerebral palsy]], in the role of JJ.

* TheSpeechless: As implied by the series name, JJ is unable to talk.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Both of Dylan's brothers. JJ actively tries to protect his sister from getting her heart broken by a crush she falls for in his class by telling her that she was embarrassing JJ. And when a social media {{Jerkass}} knocks her over in "J-i-Jimmy V-a-l-Valentine", nerdy and meek Ray ''punches him''.

** Happens to Kenneth in "O-s-Oscar P-a-Party". First he successfully redesigns a movie trivia game so that all the town's disabled kids are on a level playing field (such as giving everyone word boards and pointers, and presenting questions in audio and visual form). But when JJ and another kid try to get into a fight, he tries to make ''that'' all-inclusive too, resulting in all their parents walking in when on the kids flailing pool noodles at each other, some blindfolded, others with limbs duct-taped together, and Kenneth filming the whole thing. Though to be fair, the kids loved it.

* BigBrotherInstinct: JJ for Dylan: he actively tries to protect his sister from getting her heart broken by a crush she falls for in his class by telling her that she was embarrassing JJ.

''Speechless'' is an ABC sitcom airing in 2016 starring Creator/MinnieDriver and introducing Micah Fowler.

* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: The kids had this mainly due to the family cutting corners on things like furniture and tact in order to support JJ For example, Dylan used an old fish tank as a crib.

** In "S-h-Shipping," [[DistaffCounterpart a new girl with cerebral palsy, named Nora]], transfers to JJ's school. The entire student body ships the pair, just because they both have a disability. JJ and Nora decide to exploit this by agreeing to stick together just long enough to be voted homecoming king and queen, respectively.

* DistaffCounterpart: "S-h-Shipping" introduces Nora, a girl with cerebral palsy, to JJ's school.

** When a new girl with cerebral palsy named Nora transfers to JJ's school, ''the entire student body'' ships them solely on the basis of their disabilities. JJ and Nora decide to use this by agreeing to stick together just long enough to be voted homecoming king and queen.

-->'''JJ:''' Today was about why ''I'' wanted. You took away my real voice. You ''don't'' get to do that.

* WhamEpisode: "C-H-Cheater!": After JJ cheats on a test, and Maya spends the episode convincing JJ that taking his test on his own is the first step in being a little more self-sufficient. Meanwhile, Ray becomes obsessed with a get rich quick scam after a career fair. JJ is on his way to tell his family how well he did when he overhears the reason why Ray became so concerned about getting rich quick in the episode: [[spoiler:Ray realizes that in the future that JJ will more than likely become his and Dylan's responsibility in the future, and he wants to be able to care for JJ after his parents, which involves being financially stable. Dylan, apparently, has been thinking the same way, prompting an entirely truthful conversation between Maya, Jimmy, Ray, and Dylan regarding JJ's future - despite Maya's encouragements, JJ realistically may never be able to live on his own, have a stable job, or be able to provide for himself without assistance.]]

* RealityEnsues: It's often noted how the family has financial problems, so it's not that surprising to learn in "D-i-Ding" that Kenneth had to take a second job.

* HiddenDepths: Ray. Ray is constantly concerned with the family's financial status, dreams of a well-paying job, and seems to prioritize money to the point that his dad gives him a WhatTheHellHero speech. Turns out, Ray's focus on money comes out of concern for <i>JJ's</i> financial future. He knows his brother probably won't be able to live independently as an adult and wants to be able to provide for him.

* WhamEpisode: "C-C-Cheater": After JJ cheats on a test, and Maya spends the episode convincing JJ that taking his test on his own is the first step in being a little more self-sufficient. Meanwhile, Ray becomes obsessed with a get rich quick scam after a career fair. JJ is on his way to tell his family how well he did when he overhears the reason why Ray became so concerned about getting rich quick in the episode: [[spoiler:Ray realizes that in the future that JJ will more than likely become his and Dylan's responsibility in the future, and he wants to be able to care for JJ after his parents, which involves being financially stable. Dylan, apparently, has been thinking the same way, prompting an entirely truthful conversation between Maya, Jimmy, Ray, and Dylan regarding JJ's future - despite Maya's encouragements, JJ realistically may never be able to live on his own, have a stable job, or be able to provide for himself without assistance.]]

* MamaBear: Maya to JJ She is very protective of him and will lash out against anyone who acts against him, be it through outright ableism or simply ignorance.

* MyBelovedSmother: Maya's care for JJ can get a little over-the-top, even for JJ

** In "B-o-Bonfire", Maya gets the annual bonfire cancelled because the location is inaccessible to JJ His peers decide that even though it's not really his fault, not being mad at him just because he's disabled would be "unfair", and proceed to shame him.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The whole football team does this against their rivals when JJ and Maya frame them for pranking JJ Even the equipment manager and ''referee'' are getting in on the action.

* WhamEpisode: "C-C-Cheater": JJ cheats on a test, and Ray becomes obsessed with a get rich quick scam after a career fair. Maya spends the episode convincing JJ that he is capable of doing so much more on his own honestly, and that performing well on his own on his tests is the first step in that direction. JJ performs decently on his test and is on his way home when he overhears the reason why Ray became so concerned about earning money quickly in the episode: [[spoiler:Ray, as responsible as he is, realizes that in the future that JJ will more than likely become his and Dylan's responsibility in the future, and he wants to be able to care for JJ after his parents, which involves being stable financially. Dylan, apparently, has been thinking the same way, prompting an entirely truthful conversation between Maya, Jimmy, Ray, and Dylan regarding the truth about JJ's prospects in the future - despite Maya's encouragements, JJ realistically may never be able to live on his own, have a stable job, or be able to provide for himself without assistance.]]

The series has been lauded as groundbreaking for casting Fowler, [[DisabledCharacterDisabledActor who also has cerebral palsy]], in the role of JJ

The series follows the [=DiMeo=] family, led by take-charge matriarch Maya (Driver) who does everything in her power to give her son J.J. (Fowler), who has cerebral palsy, a normal teenage life. Unfortunately for the rest of the family --father Jimmy (John Ross Bowie), brainy middle-child Ray (Mason Cook), and hyper-competitive youngest Dylan (Kyle Kenedy)-- this has resulted in entire neighbourhoods avoiding them and having to transfer schools six times in the past two years thanks to Maya's abrasive personality and inability to get other schools to accommodate J.J. better. As the series begins, another move has taken the [=DiMeos=] to "the worst house in the best school district" (in this case, best also meaning mainstream) so that J.J. can have a permanent interpreter in his classes. Though the initial interpreter is a poor fit, J.J. soon befriends the school janitor Kenneth (Cedric Yarbrough) and appoints him as his voice, and the family finally begins to settle in.

The series has been lauded as groundbreaking for casting Fowler, [[DisabledCharacterDisabledActor who also has cerebral palsy]], in the role of J.J.

* TheAce: Becca, a newcomer to Maya's group of disabled child mothers. Maya soon becomes jealous of her because she's the only member of the group who has her life together (has time to make gifts, put on make up, and organize her house). This is because Maya's always had a chaotic life taking care of J.J., and is worried that if someone can do it more orderly than her that she might be doing it wrong after all.
* AllIssuesArePoliticalIssues: Many people outside the family steer things back to J.J.'s cerebral palsy, often because it either benefits them or they think he's InspirationallyDisadvantaged.

* BrickJoke: After making J.J. a new TotallyRadical word board, Maya points out that she had to take off "bathroom", so maybe J.J. can replace it with "Hells yeah, bitch". Later, at the football game:
-->'''Kenneth:''' You enjoying yourself, J.J.?\\
'''J.J.:''' Hells yeah, bitch!\\

* CastHerd: The main cast can usually be split into three pairs: J.J. and his interpreter Kenneth, parents Maya and Jimmy, and younger siblings Ray and Dylan.
* CentipedesDilemma: J.J.'s physiotherapist tells Ray that his walk is slightly off, causing him to be unable to walk normally for the rest of the episode.
* CurseCutShort: J.J.'s comeback at his teacher, "eat a bag of dicks", isn't finished by his first interpreter - which is a major taboo and leads to him trying to get rid of her.

* DisabledSnarker: J.J. in spades. He likely gets it from his mother. Case in point, when nominated to run for Class President simply because he's disabled, his response is "eat a bag of dicks".
* DisasterDominoes: In "D-i-Ding", Ray accidentally collapses a display of jars, which break and make a spill causing J.J. to slide across the floor and knock a cart into a different display, and Ray trying to catch them trips into a third display.
* DudeNotFunny: Kenneth gets so into using J.J.'s [[InspirationallyDisadvantaged inspiring predicament]] that he accidentally loses his word board (J.J.'s only way to communicate). When he finally realizes what he's done and how badly he screwed up, he attempts to play it off with a joke. J.J. continues to be, rightfully, pissed about it.

* TheDreaded: Maya. She's allowed to get away with speeding fairly often because, as one cop tells his partner who's about to go after her, "life's too short". Furthermore, all of J.J.'s previous schools called his new one to warn them about her.
* DrunkDriver: J.J. gets drunk in "H-a-l-Halloween". Of course, what he's driving is his wheelchair, but the jokes made are in a similar vein.
* FalseFlagOperation: J.J. and Maya pull one in "B-o-Bonfire" in order to help J.J. win back his friends' approval. They tie him to a football goal and make it look like it was done by Lafayette High's rivals. Not only does it make them like him again, but they ruthlessly trounce the opposing football team in the ensuing game as vengeance.

* HandyHelper: Kenneth is hired to be J.J.'s "voice" - J.J. communicates with a head-mounted laser pointer and a board attached to his chair filled with letters, numbers, and common words to help him form sentences; Kenneth is there to read these out to whoever needs to hear them. When at home, the rest of J.J.'s family fills this role.
* HeroicBSOD: After Kenneth innocently implies that Dylan mainly runs because J.J. can't, Dylan goes through an existential crisis because she thought she was just doing it because she liked it. The question of ''why'' she runs ends up spreading to the rest of the track team, including the coach.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: The kids had this mainly due to the family cutting corners on things like furniture and tact in order to support J.J. For example, Dylan used an old fish tank as a crib.
* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each episode title takes the form of somebody interpreting J.J.'s messages. For example, "P-i-Pilot", "N-e-New A-i-Aide", etc.
* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: The entire point of the show is to subvert this - J.J. can be just as lewd, irresponsible, and rebellious as any other teenager.
** J.J.'s entrance is applauded the moment he enters his class, simply because he's disabled. Then he's immediately nominated for class president by his homeroom ''before they even meet him''. When pressed further, the teacher just gives out meaningless platitudes about how brave J.J. is instead of saying it outright.
** Also subverted when Kenneth starts being J.J.'s official interpreter.
-->'''J.J.''': Have questions?\\

'''J.J.''': ''Real'' questions?
** They try to exploit this in "I-n-s-Inspirations" by using both J.J.'s cerebral palsy and Kenneth's GentleGiant appearance to skip lines and get free food, baseball tickets, etc. However, Kenneth goes too far and starts using it to just get what he wants, leading to him and J.J. having a fight.
** Then in "H-e-Hero", a student that J.J. doesn't even know writes an essay for a contest about how J.J. inspires him every day. So J.J. tries to one-up him by helping Ray write an even ''more'' cliched essay for the same contest.
* MagicalNegro: Kenneth calls out and mocks this trope in "H-E-Hero", in the context of J.J. being considered a hero to inspire fully abled people instead of being his own person.
* MamaBear: Maya to J.J. She is very protective of him and will lash out against anyone who acts against him, be it through outright ableism or simply ignorance.

* MyBelovedSmother: Maya's care for J.J. can get a little over-the-top, even for J.J.
* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: People asking J.J. "You got a license for that thing?". The family bets on how many people at the grocery store will ask him. J.J. says eleven. ''Thousand''.

** J.J.'s new school falls into this in a meaningless, and still ignorant, manner. They changed their mascot from a viking (which represented pillaging and toxic masculinity) to a sea slug (which has both male and female genitalia) to appear more inclusive, but their wheelchair ramp is in the back of the school and doubles as a ramp for the garbage bins.
** In "B-o-Bonfire", Maya gets the annual bonfire cancelled because the location is inaccessible to J.J. His peers decide that even though it's not really his fault, not being mad at him just because he's disabled would be "unfair", and proceed to shame him.
** Happens to Kenneth in "O-s-Oscar P-a-Party". First he successfully redesigns a movie trivia game so that all the town's disabled kids are on a level playing field (such as giving everyone word boards and pointers, and presenting questions in audio and visual form). But when J.J. and another kid try to get into a fight, he tries to make ''that'' all-inclusive too, resulting in all their parents walking in when on the kids flailing pool noodles at each other, some blindfolded, others with limbs duct-taped together, and Kenneth filming the whole thing. Though to be fair, the kids loved it.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The whole football team does this against their rivals when J.J. and Maya frame them for pranking J.J. Even the equipment manager and ''referee'' are getting in on the action.

* SpeechImpediment: J.J. cannot communicate verbally due to his cerebral palsy, hence his usage of a laser pointer and word-board.

* TokenShipping: J.J. accuses Kenneth of doing this with him and Clare just because they're both in wheelchairs. Kenneth retorts that J.J. has been trying to get him together with the only other black woman in their neighbourhood, though J.J. claims it's because she's a Libra.

* WhatTheHellHero: J.J. gives Kenneth one after the latter removes and subsequently loses his word board.
-->'''J.J.:''' Today was about why ''I'' wanted. You took away my real voice. You ''don't'' get to do that.
* WildTeenParty: J.J. goes to one in "H-a-l-Halloween", hoping that he can finally try some beer.
* YourMom: J.J. makes several of these jokes towards his new friends at school.

* PokeThePoodle: When Maya and Becca get into a fight over who's a better mother, Maya tries to get back at her by unsealing her containers in her pantry. It doesn't do much good, since everything is side is also vacuum-sealed.