‘Cousin Geri’ Returns--as a TV Cop : Profile: Geri Jewell was the first disabled person in a semi-regular series role. But she hasn’t landed a part since--until tonight’s ’21 Jump Street.’

Remember Geri Jewell?

She helped make television history nearly a decade ago as the first person with a disability to be cast as a semi-regular in a TV series.

But Jewell, who played “Cousin Geri” on the popular boarding-school sitcom “The Facts of Life” for four seasons, seemingly vanished from Hollywood when the show went off the air in 1984.

“I was unable to get work in this town,” says the 33-year-old actress/comedian, who returns tonight with a guest spot as a police officer on Fox’s “21 Jump Street” (8 p.m., Channels 11 and 6). It’s her first-ever dramatic role and her first acting job in six years, which Jewell partially attributes to the it’s-already-been-done attitude that some producers and casting directors have regarding disabled performers.

Born with cerebral palsy, a nervous-system disorder that affects motor ability, Jewell landed the job after she and longtime friend Marc Powell pitched script ideas to Stephen J. Cannell, whose company produces “21 Jump Street.”

“Geri needs things developed for her,” says Powell, who conceived the episode and, with Jewell’s help, wrote the outline on which the script was based. They went to “21 Jump Street,” Powell says, “because they’re known for tackling issues other shows never do.”

The issue, in this case, is sexual abuse of the disabled--a problem that Jewell says is rampant. She cites figures (from author Nora Baladerian’s “Survivor: A Handbook for Disabled Persons Who Have Been Sexually Assaulted”) that put the number of disabled minors who have been sexually assaulted or raped 10 times higher than in the society at large.

On the “21 Jump Street” episode, Jewell plays Rebecca Scanlon, an officer who helps capture an assailant preying on disabled women--one of whom is played by wheelchair-bound actress Maria Serrao.

“I can honestly say,” says Jewell, “that my own involvement in the area of sexual abuse was that I had been a part of that also.”

Her experience happened 10 years ago, when she was just starting a career in Hollywood as a stand-up comedian. At the time, she says, “I was emotionally probably 16--very sheltered, very isolated.”

Her assailant “was in the industry, and he was telling me I was going to be a big star . . . you know that line?”

One night they went to dinner, which Jewell thought was to discuss her career. At the end of the evening, she found herself in his car in front of her apartment, where, Jewell says, he tried--and failed--to rape her.

“I got out of the car and I started running towards my apartment. He ran past me, and he started walking backwards to my apartment calling me ortho, and gimp, and crip, yelling these things at me, which made me feel horrible.

“When I got to the apartment and I was fumbling, trying to put my key in my door, he grabbed my wrist. He said, ‘I just want to tell you how disappointed I am in you.’

“He left laughing hysterically at me and said I would be foolish to tell anybody, because nobody would believe me. He knew that whole psychology.”

Jewell believes her own emotional vulnerability and her desire to appear mature allowed her attacker to “get me to a point where he really hurt me. I should have paid attention to my instinct.”

She hopes her work on “21 Jump Street” will educate disabled and non-disabled alike about sexual assault, which she says is more likely to happen to those with disabilities because “the whole need to fit into society overlaps into a lot of areas of your life.”

Fitting the disabled into society is another issue tackled by tonight’s episode, which focuses on Rebecca’s efforts to persuade others on the police force that she is capable of taking on an assignment tougher than a desk job.

Even in an age where television shows such as “L.A. Law” and “Life Goes On” have made disabled people more visible than ever, Jewell says, “We’re so afraid of people with disabilities.” She has spent much of her six-year acting hiatus teaching companies how to treat disabled workers. “My basic message is to get past that fear,” she explains.

In her own life, Jewell has been mistaken for being drunk, mentally ill and mentally retarded. If she goes into a market late at night, she says, she is almost always assumed to be on drugs.

“The looks I get from people! And God forbid I should buy a wine cooler!” she jokes.

Instead of being angry or offended, she chooses to address these gaffes with humor and rationality.

“It’s important that we don’t lose self respect,” she says. “When you have a disability, you sometimes think you’re not as good as the next person, not normal. It’s so important to realize you’re no different than anybody else. You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone.”

And since Jewell’s theory is that “there’s something positive in every negative,” she remains optimistic about her own career.

“I think (typecasting) will be an obstacle I can overcome,” she says. “One good thing that may come out of ‘Jump Street’ is that I think it’ll show Hollywood I can act.”