Hopefully Ali Stroker’s Tony win wakes up the industry

And the Tony Award winner for Best Featured Actress in a Musical goes to Ali Stroker for her featured role in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" This is a historic Tony moment as Stroker becomes the first wheelchair using actor to win a Tony.

At the age of two the Ridgewood native was in a car accident that resulted in a spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed from the chest down. She decided to become an actress at the age of seven after seeing her first Broadway show. She reflected on that in her acceptance speech.

"This award is for every kid who is watching tonight who has a disability, who has a limitation, or a challenge who has been waiting to see themselves represented in this arena. You are," Stroker said.

Among the congratulations that came pouring in, Barnegat Township's Micah Fowler, who has cerebral palsy and starred in the groundbreaking sitcom "Speechless" on ABC, tweeted:

Comedian/musician Tim Grill who lives in Cherry Hill and was born with a disability known as Spina Bifida, tweeted this after coming on my show to talk about disabled actor representation:

The part about almost zero representation in Hollywood and Broadway is right. According to the Washington Post, "Disabled Actors Say they're The Last Civil Rights Movement in Hollywood and hardly anyone's discussing it. Hopefully this could be the start of something big!

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