IDEAAS

We will share our stories as people with disabilities who also carry other identities. Susan Fitzmaurice will discuss growing up apparently abled-bodied as an ally for progressive disability ideas that soon became outdated. Mona Ramouni will share what it is like to be a person who is Blind and also Arab-American and needing a service animal and her subsequent acquisition of a guide horse. Amanda Stahl will address what it is like to be Queer and disabled – how the assumption of no interest in sex carries over to no possibility that you could be lesbian. Marty Sheedy welcomes people's stares as they inform them that what they see as disabled may not be as it appears. Teddy Fitzmaurice will discuss what it is like to have a cognitive disability and be a business owner. Micah Fialka-Feldman will share what it is like to be a college student. Others planning to present, but can only do it on Friday would present on being Disabled and Cherokee, Disabled-Black-Male, and Disabled and a Single Parent. Each story will be followed by a discussion. People will be free to come to listen to one story or all. Hopefully people will come away with the idea that people with disabilities share some of the same struggles that others have. That we are not so different from you. We have common goals and dreams.

There are so many incredible short films created by people with disabilities that are rarely seen outside the creators family and friends. Some are professionally created and others first time creations by high school students. Some are documentaries and others animation. This will be a 2 hour (but could be 4 hour) festival of films less than 30 minutes long and some as short as 3 minutes. Some of the films will have been shown at previous Reel Life Disability Films Festival, while others will be in response to a new call for entries. “A Credo of Support” has been shown at every film festival and at a DLOC meeting. “I am Norm” is a brand new 3 minute film created by a group of teenagers at a Youth Inclusion Summit held in January of this year.

We will share our stories as people with disabilities who also carry other identities. Susan Fitzmaurice will discuss growing up apparently abled-bodied as an ally for progressive disability ideas that soon became outdated. Mona Ramouni will share what it is like to be a person who is Blind and also Arab-American and needing a service animal and her subsequent acquisition of a guide horse. Amanda Stahl will address what it is like to be Queer and disabled – how the assumption of no interest in sex carries over to no possibility that you could be lesbian. Marty Sheedy welcomes people's stares as they inform them that what they see as disabled may not be as it appears. Teddy Fitzmaurice will discuss what it is like to have a cognitive disability and be a business owner. Micah Fialka-Feldman will share what it is like to be a college student. Others planning to present, but can only do it on Friday would present on being Disabled and Cherokee, Disabled-Black-Male, and Disabled and a Single Parent. Each story will be followed by a discussion. People will be free to come to listen to one story or all. Hopefully people will come away with the idea that people with disabilities share some of the same struggles that others have. That we are not so different from you. We have common goals and dreams.

There are so many incredible short films created by people with disabilities that are rarely seen outside the creators family and friends. Some are professionally created and others first time creations by high school students. Some are documentaries and others animation. This will be a 2 hour (but could be 4 hour) festival of films less than 30 minutes long and some as short as 3 minutes. Some of the films will have been shown at previous Reel Life Disability Films Festival, while others will be in response to a new call for entries. “A Credo of Support” has been shown at every film festival and at a DLOC meeting. “I am Norm” is a brand new 3 minute film created by a group of teenagers at a Youth Inclusion Summit held in January of this year.