Disability Awareness
Simulations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYHVbLLO2bU
Five minute audio and visual simulation of experiencing schizophrenia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcS2VUoe12M
Autism and/or sensory processing disorder simulation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_u9V0R6fqo
Writing or text-processing disability simulation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zafiGBrFkRM
Dyslexia simulations with explanations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EJ4g3J6cJM
Hearing impairment simulator, with various levels of impairment.
First Person Briefs: In Their Own Words
http://www.who.int/disabilities/world_report/2011/videos/en/
Series of videos of individuals with disabilities narrating their experiences with education, bias, employment, and other issues.
http://www.washington.edu/doit/videos/index.php?vid=38
Part of Me, Not All of Me: teens with disabilities share their perspectives.
http://www.washington.edu/doit/videos/index.php
See especially the DO-IT Scholar Profile and Taking Charge video series.
Family Members: Context For Understanding and Interacting
Films
LIVES WORTH LIVING – available from Butte College's DSPS office. An inspiring, challenging documentary on the history of the civil rights movement for people with disabilities. Highlights accessibility, cultural bias, cultural change, and activisim.
CERTAIN PROOF: A QUESTION OF WORTH – available for purchase at http://www.certainproof.com/. A documentary profiling three children with severe cerebral palsy (including severe motor and speech impairments) and the ways their school districts do and, more often, don't support their learning to their potential. Also useful for understanding parents' and families' all-too-frequent experience with their student's education prior to entering college.
DARIUS GOES WEST – free to educators at www.dariusgoeswest.org; or contact K. MacKinnon.
A documentary about Darius Weems, a young man with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a progressive and ultimately fatal form of MD, who takes an odyssey from Athens, Georgia to California with his crew of friends/caregivers to ask MTV to "pimp my ride" (his wheelchair) on the show of that name, encountering both barriers and freedom along the way. The film highlights accessibility issues, cultural bias, caregiver issues, living with a terminal diagnosis, and an indomitable spirit.
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY – widely available. Semi-fictionalized film based on J. D. Bauby's book by the same name. Bauby lived with Locked In Syndrome after a massive stroke eliminated nearly all his motor functions. Voice-over dialogue draws on the book's text, which is articulate, funny, and passionate by turns as he narrates his life after the stroke. He wrote the book by blinking his right eyelid using a system developed by his speech therapist to dictate his text to a scribe. Highlights motor and speech challenges, depression, and family issues. Exceptional, insightful, has received numerous awards. In French, with subtitles.
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK – widely available. Critically acclaimed film about two people dealing with mental health issues (anger/impulse control, depression) and the stigma these cause for them in their community.
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING – widely available. Based on the book by Jane Wilde about her 30 year marriage to, and caregiving of, brilliant cosmologist Stephen Hawking, who became non-verbal and quadriplegic from ALS ( as a young man. Important themes in the film include the strains of caregiving (Jane), struggles with depression (Stephen), sexuality (Stephen), and perseverance (both).
TEMPLE GRANDIN – widely available. Biopic of Dr. Temple Grandin's life starring Claire Danes as Grandin. Highlights autism and cultural bias.
Books
Anything by Dr. Temple Grandin, including ANIMALS IN TRANSLATION, LIVING IN PICTURES, etc. – widely available, including at the Butte College bookstore. Grandin's books intersperse her own experience living with, and learning to understand, her autism, with her professional expertise – animal behavior, particularly the humane management of livestock for slaughter.
CARLY'S VOICE: BREAKING THROUGH AUTISM – available at the Butte County Library (you can request a copy be delivered to your home branch if you have a library card). Firsthand account by the father of a young woman with autism, Arthur Fleischmann. By turns wrenching and inspiring, such as when Carly finally breaks through the communication barrier and uses language for the first time at age twelve. Carly also now posts at her website, www.carlysvoice.com , and on social media.
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME – available at the Butte County Library (you can request a copy be delivered to your home branch if you have a library card). Novel by Mark Haddon, told from the point of view of a mathematically gifted teen with autism. Also highlights family, education, and caregiver issues.
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY – available at the Butte County Library (you can request a copy be delivered to your home branch if you have a library card). Written by J. D. Bauby, who lived with Locked In Syndrome after a massive stroke eliminated nearly all his motor functions. Bauby is articulate, funny, and passionate by turns as he narrates his life after the stroke. He wrote the book by blinking his right eyelid using a system developed by his speech therapist to dictate his text to a scribe. Highlights motor and speech challenges, depression, and family issues. Unforgettable.
OUT OF MY MIND – available at the Butte County Library (you can request a copy be delivered to your home branch if you have a library card). Novel by Sharon Draper, written from the point of view of an girl with severe cerebral palsy struggling for others' awareness of her intellectual abilities, and for acceptance at her school. Highlights motor, speech, social, family, education, and cultural bias issues.
PLANET OF THE BLIND – available at the Butte County Library (you can request a copy be delivered to your home branch if you have a library card). Powerful memoir by a visually impaired English professor, Stephen Kuusisto. Evocative, beautifully written. Highlights include cultural bias, service dogs, and education. Kuusisto also blogs at his own website, http://www.stephenkuusisto.com/.
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