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When ABC announced that it was adding the sitcom "Speechless" to its fall schedule, I was sort of worried.

The show revolves around a mom (Minnie Driver) who fights battle after battle for the rights of her special-needs son, J.J. (Micah Fowler).

Immediately, I was really hoping that "Speechless" (Wednesdays, 7:30 p.m., ABC/Ch. 4) would be good. Because I did not want to be the guy who gave a bad review to the show with a special-needs actor.

I shouldn't have worried. "Speechless" is good. Very good.

Driver stars as Maya DiMeo, a determined (some would say obnoxious) mother who fights for her family — including her oldest, J.J. (Micah Fowler), who has cerebral palsy. As "Speechless" began, the DiMeos just moved to a school district where J.J. will have a full-time aide.

Daughter Dylan (Kyla Kenedy) is pretty happy about it. Son Ray (Mason Cook) is not. Family patriarch Jimmy (John Ross Bowie, "The Big Bang Theory") is willing to follow his wife's lead — he loves her, and he knows she's trying to do what's best for J.J.

J.J. is sort of the calm at the center of the storm. He's in a wheelchair; he's not verbal; but he has attitude. And 18-year-old Fowler, who also has cerebral palsy, is great.

"He just lit up the screen," said creator/executive producer Scott Silveri ("Friends"). "He was so effortlessly funny and endearing. He gave us everything we were looking for.

"This is a story that I've been wanting to tell for 20 years. And without Micah's spirit and his performance and his energy, we don't get a chance to do that."

"I always wanted to be an actor," said Fowler, who can speak with effort. "Like, deep inside, I always wanted to perform."

"Speechless" is drawn from Silveri's life; he grew up in a family not unlike the DiMeos.

"It would be easier to do a show about a guy [who] wins the lottery and buys a whoopee cushion factory," Silveri said. "But this was an attempt to write what I know. And what I know is the challenges, the ups and downs of growing up with a family with a sibling with special needs."

But "Speechless" is not preachy, condescending or self-important.

"If you just hear the logline of a show with a kid with a disability, it suggests that 'After School Special'-ness. And that's why we were really vigilant about doing everything we could to subvert that," Silveri said. "It's not a lot of sitting around [saying] 'Woe is me' because that's not what the experience is. Nor is it a lot of, 'Aren't we just so lucky? Look at the lesson that we've learned today.' "

Director Christine Gernon said "Speechless" is "first and foremost a comedy that lots of people can relate to." That it is not "an issue-based show."

Issues do come up. There are "moments of humanity to it and moments of silliness to it, and we try to move quickly past both," Silveri said. "It's not, like, the disability show. So we're telling family stories."

Family stories from a point of view, just like other family sitcoms on ABC — shows like "Black-ish," "Fresh Off the Boat," "The Goldbergs," "Modern Family" and "The Real O'Neals." But they all have universal appeal.

As does "Speechless," which is more than just a show about a family with a special-needs kid.

"At its core," Silveri said, "Speechless" is "a show about being different. And not apologizing about being different. And embracing who you are. And I think a lot of different people can [relate] to that."

Scott D. Pierce covers TV for The Salt Lake Tribune. Email him at spierce@sltrib.com; follow him on Twitter @ScottDPierce.