For decades in Toledo, Ohio, Lott Industries has excelled at manufacturing small car parts. All 1,200 Lott employees have developmental disabilities, yet the company competes with traditional non-disabled businesses and achieves the highest quality ratings. When the US auto industry crisis hits, however, Lott's market is wiped out and president Joan Browne has 12 months to reinvent or close the doors. For the workers, the stakes are even higher since their jobs are a refuge, not only from the impoverishment that affects the majority of America's disabled, but from social isolation. For employees Kevin, Wanda and T.J., work is more than just a direly needed paycheck, it's a lifeline, a symbol of their dignity, and their dreams made real. The race to find a new business plan drives this engrossing recession economy drama, but it's the humanity the film restores to the balance sheet that makes A Whole Lott More such a rare achievement. Written by Myrocia Watamaniuk
Doglegs (2015)
Doglegs is a cheerfully iconoclastic underground scene where the disabled battle the able-bodied - all in the name of exploding stereotypes. When the disabled champ seeks life and love beyond the ring, his idol, the able-bodied organizer, tries to sabotage his bid for independence. In a battle of the human spirit, can the power of disability win our hero his dreamgirl?
I'll Find a Way (1977)
I'll Find a Way is a 1977 short documentary directed by Beverly Shaffer. It is about nine-year-old Nadia DeFranco who has spina bifida. The film won an Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film.
Nina is an Athlete (2024)
On the cusp of turning 40, wheelchair badminton champion Nina Gorodetsky, has her first and maybe last, chance to participate in the Paralympics. However, she is negotiating a ticking biological clock both as a mother and as an athlete. What would she be willing to sacrifice to realize her Olympic dream?
Pennhurst (2019)
Segregation, abandonment, and the meaning of home are discussed by the people that lived in, worked at, and crusaded for one of the largest and oldest Intellectual and Developmental Disability Institutions in the United States. The facility, in its closing, challenged society's perception of those with intellectual disabilities and ultimately fought for better rights.
Whereabouts of Sound (2022)
As they play carefree music, their musicianship is met with surprise, wonder, and sometimes even laughter. Captivating all who watch, Otoasobi Project’s rich variety of expression reshapes the concept of improvised music. Formed in 2005 in Kobe, Japan, Otoasobi Project has some 50 members, including people with intellectual disabilities, musicians, and music therapists, who pursue music and well-being through improvised performances. After many years of numerous workshops, concerts, and other activities, they even held their first tour in the UK in September 2013. The movie “Whereabouts of Sound” depicts the appeal of the improvised music Otoasobi creates, and the beauty of its natural, honest expression.
I Didn't See You There (2022)
As a visibly disabled person, filmmaker Reid Davenport is often either the subject of an unwanted gaze — gawked at by strangers — or paradoxically rendered invisible, ignored or dismissed by society. The arrival of a circus tent just outside his apartment prompts him to consider the history and legacy of the freak show, in which individuals who were deemed atypical were put on display for the amusement and shock of a paying public. Contemplating how this relates to his own filmmaking practice, which explicitly foregrounds disability, Davenport sets out to make a film about how he sees the world from his wheelchair without having to be seen himself.
Imperfect (2021)
A professional company of actors with disabilities defies expectations by taking center stage in Chicago the musical.
Beyond the Summit (2022)
After an accident, Sebastian (Zuko), who was a professional mountaineering guide, lost the mobility of his legs. However, through a great feat he undertakes at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro, he proves that limits only exist in our minds.
Voices from the Shadows (NaN)
‘Voices from the Shadows’ shows the brave and sometimes heartrending stories of five ME patients and their carers, along with input from Dr Nigel Speight, Prof Leonard Jason and Prof Malcolm Hooper. These were filmed and edited between 2009 and 2011, by the brother and mother of an ME patient in the UK. It shows the devastating consequences that occur when patients are disbelieved and the illness is misunderstood. Severe and lasting relapse occurs when patients are given inappropriate psychological or behavioural management: management that ignores the severe amplification of symptoms that can be caused by increased physical or mental activity or exposure to stimuli, and by further infections. A belief in behavioural and psychological causes, particularly when ME becomes very severe and chronic, following mismanagement, is still taught to medical students and healthcare professionals in the UK. As a consequence, situations similar to those shown in the film continue to occur.
Be Seeing You (1968)
A documentary look at striking workers in a textile plant in Besançon, France, centering on interviews with workers about their motivations for becoming involved with the union and the struggles of their day to day life.
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (2024)
Christopher Reeve portrayed the Man of Steel in four Superman films and played dozens of other roles that displayed his talent and range as an actor, before being injured in a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After becoming a quadriplegic, he became a charismatic leader and activist in the quest to find a cure for spinal cord injuries, as well as a passionate advocate for disability rights and care.