The Other Film Festival
New cinema by, with and about people with disability
"Australia's only disability film festival continues to bring groundbreaking films from around the world to Melbourne audiences. The Other Film Festival supports and encourages excellence in filmmaking, accessible cinema and the passionate exchange of ideas."
film: The Other Film Festival
Seeing Beyond Sight
photographs by blind teenagers
By Tony Deifell
"What are you thinking, teaching photography to blind people?"
Disability Social History Project
About the Disability Social History Project
"The Disability History Project is a community history project and we welcome your participation. This is an opportunity for disabled people to reclaim our history and determine how we want to define ourselves and our struggles. People with disabilities have an exciting and rich history that should be shared with the world."
LeroyMoore.com
"Leroy Moore is a disabled African American writer, poet, hip-hop lover, community activist and feminist. He has been sharing his perspective on identity, race & disability for the last thirteen years. His work began in London, England where he discovered a Black Disabled Movement which help led to the creation of his lecture series; ’On the Outskirts: Race & Disability. Leroy F. Moore Jr. is a 
consultant on Race & Disability. He has studied, worked and lectured in the field of race and disability concerning blues, hip-hop, and social justice issues in the
Leroy currently lectures for Speak Out, a national speaker’s bureau. For more than ten years Leroy has collected CDs, videos and articles from Blind Blues Artists and has rare CDs from disabled hip-hop artists.
Leroy has interviewed disabled hip-hop\soul\blues artists; DJ Quad of LA, Paraplegic MC of Chicago, Rob DA Noize of New York and the Blind Boys of Alabama to name a few. He has performed with Molotov Mouths, Po Poets, the Welfare Poets, Black Disabled Artists Sharing Stories, and has been a guest artist\lecturer in High schools and Universities across the country and in
The Gimp Parade
"Not only do physically disabled people have experiences which are not available to the able-bodied, they are in a better position to transcend cultural mythologies about the body, because they cannot do things the able-bodied feel they must do in order to be happy, 'normal,' and sane....If disabled people were truly heard, an explosion of knowledge of the human body and psyche would take place. -- Susan Wendell, author of The Rejected Body: Feminist Philosophical Reflections on Disability"
Cash and Counseling Model
“Cash & Counseling helps consumers direct and manage their personal assistance services according to their own specific needs. Our goal is to expand this proven model to more states, allowing thousands more older adults and people with disabilities to have choice and control over the care they receive."
Program Overview
"Cash & Counseling offers Medicaid consumers who have disabilities more choices about how to get help at home. Specifically, it gives frail elders and adults with disabilities the option to manage a flexible budget and decide for themselves what mix of goods and services will best meet their personal care needs. Cash & Counseling participants may use their budgets to hire their own personal care aides as well as purchase items or services, including home modifications that help them live independently. The Cash & Counseling Vision Statement fully describes the essential components of the model."
Big Noise
About the author:
"I abhor racism, sexism, ableism, hetrosexualism, ageism, and classism. I am for the rights of people with disabilities, GLB-and yes, even T and Q, women, workers, the oppressed, and people of color everywhere. I am a pro-liberation, pro-union, pro-peace, pro-empowerment, and anti-war feminist with a disability."
Theater By The Blind
"Theater By The Blind is a critically acclaimed company made up of both visually impaired and sighted theatre professionals. Founded in 1979, the company’s mission is to change the image of the blind from one of dependence to independence, to fight the stereotypes and misperceptions associated with blindness, and to show how vibrant, fluid and exuberant the visually impaired can be. Theater By The Blind is the only theater in the
Under the Artistic Direction of Founder Ike Schambelan and George Ashiotis, the company has developed several principal programs to achieve its mission. Among them: developing visually impaired talent for theater, movies and TV; writing original material revealing the world of the blind; touring to bring this material to as many people as possible; performing traditional material in a style to make it fully accessible to the blind; developing blind audiences; and integrating both the blind and the sighted in a shared aesthetic experience that bridges the gap between them.
The company performs for every kind of audience member imaginable, from general
In its long history, Theater By The Blind has won several awards, including the Califormia Governors Media Access Award, the Very Special Arts/New York City Mayor’s Award and the American Foundation for the Blind’s Helen Keller Achievement Award in Performing Arts."
The College of Direct Support (CDS)
The College of Direct Support (CDS) “Educating a workforce of Direct Support Professionals to support individuals with disabilities is what we do – “Building Careers, Supporting Lives.” Our curriculum, values and mission are based on the premise that all people should live life to its fullest in community-based settings.
The
CDS now reaches learners in 25 states from coast to coast with approximately 40,000 people making use of the training on a daily basis. We are training direct support workers in California, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Minnesota, Mississippi, Kansas, Tennessee, South Dakota, New Hampshire and Missouri, to name a few.
Our training curriculum is infused with a set of values and skill standards to train Direct Support Professionals and their supervisors and managers as they support people in community-based settings. Values such as inclusion, honored rights, leading self-determined lives and ethical, values-based treatment, among others, are at the core of CDS training and our mission.
We invite you to spend time with us here at the
Two Spirits Gallery
About the gallery:
"Two Spirits Gallery is dedicated to artists who’s lives have been affected by mental illness, substance abuse, or homelessness. Located in downtown Anchorage the Gallery opened in May of 2005 as part of the continuum of care offered through the Recovery Services unit at Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. Two spirits works with a diverse group of artists from across the state, some whose talents may already be known to the public and others whose talents have yet to be discovered."
"Paralyzed since I was 18 years old, I have spent much of the last 30 years thinking about the reasons why the social life of crippled people is so different from those who ambulate on two feet. After reading about the so called Ashley Treatment earlier this year I decided it was time to write a book about my life as a crippled man. My book, Bad Cripple: A Protest from an Invisible Man, will be published by Counter Punch in 2008."
Why I Burned My Book and Other Essays on Disability
By Paul Longmore
Below is an excerpt from a review by John Vickrey Van Cleve
"Over the course of an academic career, it's fairly common to publish a book or two, write an occasional article for specialized journals, and teach classes in a narrowly circumscribed field. These milestones are not generally difficult to achieve, but their significance is elusive. Few of us publish work that creates new paradigms or that leads to changes in public or private behavior. Perhaps our students reconsidered long-held beliefs or discovered new ways of interpreting their world, but in most cases we do not know. Looking back on three pleasurable decades in academia, therefore, I wonder whether my career has had an impact, whether it has meaning beyond personal gratification. Paul Longmore need not confront this painful question: in fewer than twenty years as a university historian, he has altered the practices of his chosen profession, and he has affected attitudes and institutional behavior nationwide."
Click here to read the full review
Disability²
"The intersection of parenting with a disability and parenting kids with disabilities"
About the author:
"I am an attorney in
I have several disabilities. I have a neuromuscular disease and am a power wheelchair user, and I am also deafblind. I am a single mom and have had three kids placed with me for adoption. My commitment to advocacy within the community of parents who have disabilities stems in large part from my own experiences becoming a parent."
The Sprout Film Festival
making the invisible visable
"We invite you to experience film and video related to the field of developmental disabilities. People with developmental disabilities as subjects and performers remain marginalized in the media. The Sprout Film Festival aims to raise their profile by showcasing works of all genres featuring this population.
By presenting films of artistry and intellect, the festival hopes to reinforce accurate portrayals of people with developmental disabilities and expose the general public to important issues facing this population. The goal is an enjoyable and enlightening experience that will help breakdown stereotypes, promoting a greater acceptance of differences and awareness of similarities. "
What is the objective of DisabilityStatistics.org?
"The DisabilityStatistics.org web site condenses several data sources into a single, user-friendly, accessible, Internet resource. It also provides essential background information on key issues related to disability statistics."
What is the history of DisabilityStatistics.org?
"For several years, researchers at Cornell University, with funding from the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), have generated and distributed a large volume of national statistics on the prevalence of disability and the employment, income, and poverty status of people with disabilities. These statistics were often calculated over many years, across states, by type of disability and/or across demographic characteristics. Numerous scientific research papers, policy briefs, academic journal articles, book chapters, and research summaries have drawn on these disability statistics. Recently, the demand for additional demographic and statistical information has grown as a wider audience becomes interested in disability statistics.
To meet these needs, researchers at
neurotypical the movie
What is normal?
“Who is the ultimate authority on the subject of autism and how does public perception and policy derive from that supposed authority?” coming fall 2008
The Advocacy & Empowerment for Minorities Program (A&E)
"The Advocacy & Empowerment for Minorities Program (A&E) is an applied research center in the Department of Disability and Human Development at the
OUCH! Podcast
"The show features funny, intelligent hosts and interesting guests...
A truly great experience, thought provoking, creative and often hilarious... take the time to download and listen to the full archive of shows."
Fountain Gallery
The Mission:
"Fountain Gallery provides an environment for artists living and working with mental illness to pursue their personal visions and to challenge the stigma that surrounds mental illness."
Disability Studies at Syracuse
"The Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies (CHPLDS) is an expansion of the Center on Human Policy, which was founded by Dr. Burton Blatt in 1971. The Center is a network of academic programs, centers, student organizations, and affiliated faculty whose research, teaching, and advocacy seeks to promote the rights of people with disabilities locally, nationally, and globally, and to facilitate a critical examination of disability as an aspect of diversity in society."
Founding SU Academic Programs and Centers
AskAnAspie.com
A site put together by a group of college students who are on the spectrum, the site offers advice to others based on their own personal experiences. Though the site hasn't been updated in a while it's still a great resource.
“When it comes to information about autism, there are a lot of resources written by professionals for parents. There are a lot of support groups by parents for parents. But how much information out there aimed at parents was written by autistics? It can be hard for a neurotypical parent to understand how an autistic child sees the world, especially when that child has trouble communicating. We are a group of students at the University of Chicago who have Asperger's Syndrome and High Functioning Autism, and we're here to provide a window into the autistic worldview. We can provide information from our own personal experience, point you towards information in the thriving online autistic community, or give you a history of Middle English Pronouns. We're aspies. Between us, we know a lot of random stuff.”
ADAPT
"REAL HOMES NOT NURSING HOMES
Nationally ADAPT focuses on promoting services in the community instead of warehousing people with disabilities in institutions and nursing homes. Attendant services (help with things like eating, dressing, toileting, moving from wheelchair to bed, etc.) are the cornerstone to community based services for people with severe disabilities. ADAPT is working to get 25% of the Medicaid long term care funds redirected to pay for a national, mandated attendant services program.
WE WILL RIDE! ADAPT has a long history of organizing in the disability community and using civil disobedience and similar non- violent direct action tactics to achieve its goals. In 1983, as a project of the Atlantis Community in Denver, ADAPT began its national campaign for lifts on buses and access to public transit for people with disabilities. ADAPT started as American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. For seven years ADAPT blocked buses in cities across the US to demonstrate the need for access to public transit. Many went to jail for the right to ride.
ADAPT played a major role in gaining passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, particularly in ADA's stringent requirements relating to accessible transit, and its being seen as a civil rights law. Passage of this bill has meant victory for ADAPT in our struggle for lifts on buses.
FREE OUR PEOPLE
Once the transit issue was won and access was begun to be guaranteed, ADAPT felt it was clear attendant services must be our next issue. In a national planning meeting July 1990 ADAPT targeted the reallocation of one quarter of the federal and state Medicaid dollars from institutional programs to consumer controlled community based programs. ADAPT now also stands for American Disabled For Attendant Programs Today.
Many of ADAPT's members have been locked away in nursing homes and institutions because of their need for attendant services. Many had to fight to get out, and were among the lucky few who were able to get enough support services to live in the community.
Because of outdated attitudes toward people with disabilities which label us as "sick", our needs are seen as "medical" and a huge system of institutional facilities has developed to provide for these needs. This institutionalized industry which has developed continues to use up massive amounts of funds to maintain the status quo. ADAPT wants to reverse the bias so that community based attendant services are the common option, and nursing homes are reserved as a last resort.
The collages from Chicago and Atlanta done by Carolyn Long, tell their stories of these actions in their own way. The plaque included here was placed by the County and City of Denver and Denver RTD at the intersection on Colfax where the Atlantis Community held the first inaccessible bus and was one of the first historic markers in the struggle for disability rights. Wade Blank, a founder of Atlantis and ADAPT, used to take all visitors to see it, and always brought a bottle of Fantastic to clean it up. The plaque was stolen several years ago, but in the summer of 1995 a transit transfer station was built near the site. Dedicated to Wade, the station has another larger mural on an inside wall."
Audacity
"Audacity Magazine is a news and entertainment magazine geared toward the disability community in the United States and the world.
As such Audacity covers issues pertaining to life with a disability through the prism of disability to expose the public at large to the attitudes of those with physical challenges.
In addition to covering issues related to disability,Audacity writes stories pertaining to topical issues not directly related to disability per se, those stories give writers and the disability community a
chance to express their opinions.
Mouth
From the authors:
“Mouth brings the conversation down to street level, where well-intentioned "special" programs wreak havoc in the lives of ordinary people. People talk about calling a spade a spade. We call Jack Kevorkian a serial killer. And when maggots outnumber nurses' aides at what others call a "care facility," we call it a hellhole. We say it out loud: if special education is so darned special, every kid in every school ought to have the benefit of it.
Some folks call the Mouth radical. We think simpleminded is a better ephithet. Remember the other George Bush, when he campaigned in a supermarket and discovered that remarkable new checkout scanning technology? The man hadn't been to the grocery store since he was knee-high to a political consultant. Do-gooders are exactly that much out of touch with the helping system that they themselves operate.
Ask the next do-gooder you meet: Have you checked yourself into a nursing home lately? Tried to board an "accessible" bus in a wheelchair? Filed an
The answer will be no. It's not in their job description to use the godforsaken things.
And so it is that do-gooders go on doing their good about us --- without us.
And along comes the Mouth, roaring up from street level to take their system by the throat. This rude little magazine demands answers from the people in charge, laughs at the lying answers, and occasionally bites down, hard, somewhere near the throbbing jugular.”
media:
"If you're involved in developing and delivering communications activities and products, this web site will help you to redress the imbalance. This is more than just about accurately promoting the diversity of our society and doing what's right – it's a creative opportunity.
Images of Disability (IOD) is a cross-government initiative lead by the DWP to 'mainstream' images of disabled people into Government advertising and publicity. And we want to influence the private sector too.
An image of disability is a fair, creative and stimulating portrayal of disability. It can be anything from a photo, graphic or character in a storyline, to a visual or aural cue. The possibilities are endless."
Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program (BORP)
"Bay Area Outreach & Recreation Program (BORP) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization working to improve the health, independence and social integration of people with physical disabilities through sports, fitness and recreation programs. At BORP, we believe that sports and recreation provide a path to greater achievement to which all people should have access, and we continually strive to make this a reality.
BORP is headquartered in Berkeley, California and is the leading provider and promoter of accessible sports and recreation opportunities for children and adults with physical disabilities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to our high quality innovative sports and recreation programs, our expert staff provides advocacy, trainings, referrals and consultation services and have helped initiate adaptive sports programs in several other cities across the state. BORP also conducts disability awareness trainings and adaptive sports exhibitions for a variety of community agencies and serves as a valuable resource to physical therapists, rehabilitation hospitals, parks and recreation departments and related organizations.
Three Decades of Success
BORP was founded in 1976, by people with disabilities to create access to the outdoors, to fitness, to sports and to recreation for a population that had been left out. In the 1970's, there simply were no recreation programs in the state specifically for people with disabilities. Initially started as a small student program at UC Berkeley, BORP has since grown to serve children, adults and families from all over the greater Bay Area. Over the past 30 years, thousands of people have benefited from our innovative programs, trainings, referrals and consultations."
Partners In Policymaking
"Partners in Living" is a seven-hour self-directed e-learning course created to help people with developmental disabilities, their parents, family members and friends, educators and service providers understand the important concepts of self-determination, family support, community living and assistive technology. Go to www.partnersinpolicymaking.com/living to review the course. We would appreciate any comments and feedback. Please take a few minutes to fill out the feedback form within the course.
"Partners in Time" is an eight-hour self-directed e-learning course created to help people with developmental disabilities, their parents, family members and friends, educators and service providers understand the history of society's treatment of people with disabilities from ancient times through the present. Go to www.partnersinpolicymaking.com/history to review the course. We would appreciate any comments and feedback.
"Partners in Education" is a six-hour self-directed e-learning course to help parents with children with developmental disabilities better understand and maximize the benefits of special education services and inclusion for their children. Go to www.partnersinpolicymaking.com/education to review the course and give us your comments and feedback. The course has been updated to reflect IDEA 2004.
"Making Your Case" is a three-hour self-directed course on how to communicate with public officials by effectively telling your personal story, writing a letter, providing testimony, and communicating in positive ways. Go to www.partnersinpolicymaking.com/makingyourcase to review the course. Please take a moment to complete the evaluation. We welcome your comments and feedback. Click here to download a course outline for Making Your Case.
"Partners in Employment" is a six-hour self-directed course on how to find a job, write a resume, participate in an interview, and plan for your career. Go to www.partnersinpolicymaking.com/employment to take the course and give us your comments and feedback. Click here to download a course outline for Partners in Employment.
These e-learning courses are available to everyone!
PLEASE NOTE: There are NO registration fees for the "Partners in Living," "Partners in Time," "Partners in Education," "Making Your Case" or "Partners in Employment" e-learning courses.
The National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN)
The National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN) is dedicated to advancing the next generation of disability leaders.
The NYLN:
- Promotes leadership development, education, employment, independent living, and health and wellness among young leaders representing the diversity of race, ethnicity and disability in the
- Fosters the inclusion of young leaders with disabilities into all aspects of society at national, state and local levels.
- Communicates about issues important to youth with disabilities and the policies and practices that affect
Disability Rights and Independent Living Movement
"The DRILM collection consists of more than 100 oral histories with leaders and shapers of the disability rights and independent living movement from the 1960s onward and an extensive archive of personal papers of activists and records of key organizations."
Access these collections by:
Alphabetical listing of individuals and organizations
Geographical location of individuals and organizations
Organization name
Research and study topics
"UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, through its Regional Oral History Office, has recorded and continues to record the stories of individuals who have made significant contributions to the origins and achievements of these movements. The Bancroft Library also collects, preserves, and provides access to the papers of organizations and individuals of importance to the struggles for disability rights and independent living. The collection highlights the broad range of strategies and tactics employed, the diverse experience of the activists involved, and the intersection of disability in
Wow!
What a fantastic, thought provoking project, thanks to the the blog Diary of a Goldfish and the many, many contributors.
The Independent Living Institute (ILI)
"The Independent Living Institute (ILI) is a policy development center specializing in consumer-driven policies for disabled peoples' freedom of choice, self-determination, self-respect and dignity. Our ultimate goal is to promote disabled people’s personal and political power. Towards this end we provide information, training materials and develop solutions for services for persons with extensive disabilities in
Advocacy Unlimited, Inc.
"Advocacy Unlimited offers education in self, systems, and legislative advocacy skills for persons in recovery from psychiatric disabilities.
Advocacy Unlimited, Inc. is a statewide nonprofit organization in
AU's Advocacy Education Course is open to any
Graduates are placed within the community for six months and become part of a grassroots network of trained advocates that help others in their recovery, especially by advocating for their rights and also teaching them to advocate for themselves. Our core value and belief is that everyone should be treated equally regardless of race, gender, or disability. Knowledge and skills ensure that people play a central role in shaping the services and policies that affect their lives.
Advocacy Unlimited also provides a wealth of information, support, and resources pertaining to mental health and the issues surrounding mental illness, including awareness and stigma. AU has developed a network of mental health advocates across
Just Give Him The Whale
20 Ways to Use Fascinations, Areas of Expertise, and Strengths to Support Students with Autism
By Paula Kluth, Ph.D., & Patrick Schwarz, Ph.D. (In Press)
Advocating Change Together
"Advocating Change Together (ACT) is a disability rights organization that is:
- run by and for people with developmental disabilities and other disabilities.
- committed to this premise: It is not the individual who must change to fit society, but society and systems that must change to accommodate all people.
- responding to the societal problem that individuals with developmental disabilities are too often isolated and excluded from decisions regarding their lives.
Historically, persons with disabilities have been on the receiving end of change, having no control over what services they receive, such as what accommodations are made available for education or employment. Today, thanks to the self-advocacy movement, people with disabilities are creating change - demanding equal rights and equal participation.
ACT's mission is to encourage and support this change. Through our programs and products, ACT works in two ways-- providing information, skill building, and leadership opportunities to individuals with disabilities; and challenging institutional barriers by organizing people with disabilities around issues of common concern."
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