Time & Perspective Quote by Richard Masur

Masur’s point lands with the blunt pragmatism of someone who’s spent a career watching how images move product. He’s not making a poetic case for inclusion; he’s describing the moment capitalism notices what disability advocates have been saying for decades: representation isn’t just ethical, it’s bankable. The “jump in sales” detail is doing two jobs at once. It’s evidence, but it’s also a tell: the industry’s attention often arrives only when a spreadsheet makes it impossible to ignore.

The subtext is an uncomfortable trade. Disabled people get visibility, but the entry fee is proof of profitability. Masur frames this as “something that is being realized more and more,” which softens the cynicism with a hint of progress narrative. Yet the phrasing also exposes how late the realization is, and who gets to decide when it counts. “Put a deaf person in a commercial” treats disability like a casting choice that can be toggled on, not a lived demographic that has always been there, buying fries and everything else.

Context matters: Masur is speaking from within an entertainment-adjacent ecosystem where “diversity” is routinely translated into “market expansion.” His example implicitly rebukes the old ad-world superstition that disability is “too sad” or “too niche” to sell aspirational products. The quote works because it doesn’t pretend the system is pure. It argues in the language the system actually respects, while daring you to notice how low that bar is.