It doesn't help that some of the past Disney stars have made a few mistakes in the public's eye which has served to cast a negative shadow (unfairly) on all other performers. I notice though, (correct me if I'm wrong) that you don't hear to much about the male actors from Disney with the same identical problems, just the females. "shrugs."
Critics are mean to these Disney stars. For instance, when Selena Gomez was acting in the movie, Monte Carlo, the critics gave her a bad review and Miley Cyrus too for The Last Song, so do you think Disney actors could act in movies or stay on tv?
For sure Disney actors can do movies successfully,as well as tv series.But the snooty critics are mean and shallow just because of the "Disney connection" and think the actors aren't serious or talented enough to star in "proper movies".Just because you're a serious actor doesn't mean you always make great movies as there are a lot of turkeys out there- like Jennifer Aniston in "The Bounty Hunter" for example.