Disability Studies: Multimedia

Dyslexia: A Beautiful Brain is a documentary showing what it is like to have dyslexia, the struggles, the challenges and what it is actually doing inside the brain when a dyslexic tries to read, write, speak, or interpret what they hear. The film weaves in students perspectives from 7 years old to 18, as well as teachers who specialize in educating students who have challenges when reading and writing. Tufts University Neuroscientist, Dr. Maryanne Wolf helps the audience understand the processing problems that dyslexics have. There are wonderful animated illustrates that give a sneak peak into the mind's eye of a dyslexic. The film is 52 minutes in length.

Gain new tools for helping adults with developmental disabilities using creative arts therapies within Dr. Snow's unique ethnodramatherapy model.

The unlikely collaboration between a veteran choreographer and a young actor with cerebral palsy delivers astonishing proof that each and every body is capable of miraculous transformation. As Tamar Rogoff trains Gregg Mozgala to become a dancer, they discover that her lack of formal medical training and his fears and physical limitations are not obstacles, but the impetus for their unprecedented discoveries. 'Enter The Faun' is the story of a joyous, obsessed journey towards opening night. It challenges the boundaries of medicine and art, as well as the limitations associated with disability.

An inspirational and heartwarming one-hour documentary, highlighting the journey of disabled veterans whose lives are transformed through the unconditional love of service dogs that have been expertly trained by female prison inmates.

Celebrated by audiences at home and abroad, Indigenous artist Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu was one of the most important and acclaimed voices to ever come out of Australia. Blind from birth, he found purpose and meaning through songs and music inspired by his community and country on Elcho Island in far North East Arnhem Land. Living a traditional Yolngu life, his breakthrough album 'Gurrumul' brought him to a crossroads as audiences and artists around the world began to embrace his music.

This unique program lets viewers experience the frustration, anxiety, and tension faced by children with learning disabilities. Workshop facilitator Richard Lavoie presents a series of striking simulations emulating daily experience of LD children. Teachers, social workers, and parents, workshop participants, reflect upon how the workshop changed their approach to LD children.

The Limits of My World follows a nonverbal young man's transition from the school system into adulthood. Brian has autism and faces the daily challenges of adjusting to his new life. Filmed from the intimate perspective of his older sister Heather, this documentary seeks to understand Brian's personality beneath his disability.

Shot over 25 years, No Limits is a ‘7 Up’ inspired long form narrative documentary that follows the lives of our disabled protagonists – Thalidomide victims – over the course of decades, and reveals how changes in societies attitudes to disability have affected them. It is also a scathing investigation into the crime of the century, as a new generation of Thalidomide babies are born in Brazil, decades after it was banned across most of the western world and its harmful effects publicized. Academy Award winning director John Zaritsky joins activists in Germany, Canada and the UK as they plot to reveal a sinister and long hidden complicity by the Thalidomide manufacturer, their Nazi background and a quest for justice for all.

The remarkable true story of Darius McCollum, a man with Asperger's syndrome, whose overwhelming love of transit has landed him in jail 32 times for impersonating New York City bus drivers and subway conductors and driving their routes. As a boy in Queens, NY, Darius found sanctuary from school bullies in the subway. There he befriended transit workers who taught him to drive trains. By age 8, he memorized the entire subway system. At 15, he drove a packed train 6 stops by himself, making all the stops and announcements. Over the next three decades, Darius commandeered hundreds of trains and buses, staying en route and on schedule, without ever getting paid. He attended transit worker union meetings, lobbying for better pay and working conditions for a union he didn't belong to. Although Darius has never damaged any property or hurt anyone in his decades of service, he has spent 23 years in maximum security prison. Darius' recidivism embodies the criminal justice system’s failure to channel the passions of a harmless, mentally-challenged man into a productive career and purposeful life.

Moving documentary series following people as they go through pivotal experiences in their lives - ranging from applying for their dream job to a musician undergoing surgery that could restore her hearing.

Playing By Ear is a short documentary about the Institution For The Blind in Delhi, India and the blind boys there who surmount obstacles to pursue their dreams. They focus on academics and also study music and participate in sports. Cricket is especially popular, and they play the game with a ball containing beads to make a sound so that they can hear the ball as it approaches them. They are well cared for by a supportive staff, receive a good education and some go on to college. This short film is an uplifting success story with a positive message for all of us.

"Riding with thisABILITIES” is a story about disabled children empowered through therapeutic horse riding that was shot at the historic Claremont Riding Academy in NYC before it closed. In the film we learn what therapeutic horse riding is and how it benefits the children, especially Josue, an eleven year-old with cerebral palsy and Zack, a six year-old autistic child. We meet them as young adults and see how they’ve done. Most programs are privately funded. In spite all the benefits, after their graduation, the stable is sold and the program ends. In a postscript, there is a plea for society to spend more money on therapeutic horse riding, and programs like it, so that everyone has a chance to “Ride with theirABILITY.”

Sidney Bijou, often credited as the founder of child behavioral therapy, reveals here in conversation with Steven Hayes how he came to develop new treatments for autism and other developmental disorders. Examining his findings across child development fields, Bijou makes recommendations for the next generations of educators, parents, and psychologists.

In China, if you can’t walk on your own, you can’t go to school. It is not a policy, but a mentality of a society. Slow Angels profiles three families with children with cerebral palsy from different background in Shenzhen, as they struggle to cope with the disability and fight being ostracized by society.