Hollywood Inclusion

Radha Mehta’s brilliant narrative short film, DOSH, follows a hard-of-hearing mother as a night with her husband’s traditional family goes amiss; while spotlighting the fight against familial denialism and damp cold alienation that many Disabled people face — while also maintaining a dark and thrilling plot.

The title, DOSH, is Hindi for “fault.” In the film, the protagonist confronts her mother-in-law about her husband’s mental health hoping for a mother’s support, but she’s quickly shut down. Things go awry when her husband retaliates by ripping the assistive hearing devices from the protagonist’s ears during a pre-wedding ritual. Overall, this an intersectional masterpiece. It weaves the culture of Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities with South-Asian taboos like disability being shameful or a punishment from God, while also leveraging the dramatic tension of a husband and wife in freefall. A pivotal scene at the end of the film depicts the deeply empathetic protagonist kneeling down in the tub with her distraught husband, the one who tossed her assistive hearing devices. [continue reading…]

With recording artist and award-winning advocate Lachi and James Ian at the helm, RAMPD (the global network of Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities) has come together to create the piano-driven Adult Contemporary record “Lift Me Up,” featuring Gaelynn Lea. The video concept is a tribute to the late disability rights activist Judy Heumann and a salute to deaf culture, with a fully disabled production team. The visuals are performed by three notable Deaf ASL performers (Amber Galloway, Otis Jones, and Nell) in the New York City video studio “Gymnopedie,” while vocals from Lachi, James, and Gaelynn are performed in Quad Recording studio. RAMPD and Lachi put together a well-established award-winning BIPOC, LGBTQ, and disabled crew featuring Catriona Rubenis-Stevens (Director/Producer), Day Al-Mohamed (Co-Director), Caroline Mariko Stucky (DP), Jake Primmerman (Editor), April Rose (Co-Writer, Mixing & Mastering), and Kulick (Mixing & Mastering).

Judy Heumann was the quintessential champion for disability rights and breaking barriers. She took on the New York Board of Education and the federal government, shut down streets, and organized national sit-ins paving the way for all the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) benefits we see today. A fierce leader, friend, selfless change maker, and a legend in the disability community, she was a good friend to Lachi, Ian, and Gaelynn. Judy passed away in March of 2023. Learn more about her and her work on her website.

“After my good friend and mentor Judy Heumann passed, I began writing this song just to cope,” Lachi said. “And wow, this thing has blown up in such a beautiful way. I couldn’t have asked for a better cast of co-writers, performers, and crew to lift inclusion, community, and belonging in this way. As artists it is our job to tell compelling stories through competitive art in the hope of creating social impact. However, every single human involved in this project worked from a place of love, and it shines brightly through this piece. I believe society is ready – ready for authentic, compelling, quality content celebrating Disability culture.” [continue reading…]

27% of the U.S. population is disabled, yet only 1.9% of all speaking characters in 100 of the top-grossing films in 2022 were shown as disabled, according to USC Annenberg’s latest study on inequality in film.

Disability Is Intersectional

A breakdown of the intersecting identities of disabled characters in the top-grossing films in 2022, according to the study, shows a further mismatch between the makeup of the disability community and its representation on screen. The Annenberg study found that of the already small number of disabled characters in the top films of 2022, 69.1% were male-identifying, and only 30.9% were female-identifying. In addition to underrepresenting female-presenting disabled characters, the top films of 2022 also underrepresented nonwhite racial and ethnic groups. Only 24% of disabled characters in the films surveyed in 2022 were from a historically underrepresented racial or ethnic group. That means more than three-fourths of characters shown as disabled in the films surveyed in 2022 were white. Further, only 1 disabled character in all 100 movies surveyed from 2022 was shown as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Trans disability representation was found to be completely nonexistent.

Since the disability community is not monolithic, “part of proportional disability representation includes representing the diversity of the disability community and experience,” said Lauren Appelbaum, Senior Vice President of Entertainment and News Media at RespectAbility. [continue reading…]

While more than 20% of adults in the U.S. live with a mental health condition, a new study has found that mental health conditions continue to be rare in popular films. This study, the third of a series since 2016, was conducted by the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative in partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Just 2.1% of characters in the top 100 films in 2022 experience a mental health condition including addiction (28 characters), anxiety/PTSD (24), mood disorder (21), suicide (14), significant disturbance in thinking (8), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (2). Some characters presented with more than one mental health condition. This representation shows little growth since 2019 (1.5%) and 2016 (1.7%).

“Our work has demonstrated that change has occurred in entertainment across a variety of indicators,” Associate Professor of Communications Stacy L. Smith said. “Yet when it comes to mental health conditions– which are reported by a significant portion of the population– there has been no improvement over time. Entertainment can play a role in shaping perceptions of mental health conditions, but the absence of these portrayals communicates that mental health conditions are invisible as are those who live with them. This must change.” [continue reading…]

Dances With Films (DWF:LA), now in its 26th year, champions the unflinching spirit at the very core of the independent film scene. Always prioritizing important storytelling above all else, this year’s theme of “Peace, Love, & Celluloid” is a nod to some of its powerful programming that promotes healing, highlights social justice, and celebrates inclusivity and diversity.

Several films that premiered at DWF:LA explicitly focused on elements of disability throughout. This included narrative films such as Heightened, with a focus on anxiety and OCD, and My Home Unknown, with a focus on schizophrenia; as well as documentaries Abled: The Blake Leeper Story, with a focus on an amputee Paralympian, Baldy for the Blind, with a focus on blind climbers, and You Have No Idea, with a focus on an autistic individual. In addition, shorts For the Safety of Theo had a focus on an individual with OCD while The Tea Party focused on a teenage girl with ADHD.

Several additional films featured disabled cast members but the film’s focus was not on the disability. These included Daruma (featuring Tobias Forrest and John W. Lawson), Proof Sheet (featuring Eileen Grubba), and The Unseen (featuring Jennifer A. Goodman and RJ Mitte). Neurodiverse multihyphenate Jennifer A. Goodman wrote, starred in, and produced The Unseen.

Below, please find a guide to several of the films featuring disability in the plot or talent with disabilities. DWF:LA is taking place through July 2 at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. [continue reading…]

Fall down seven times, get up eight. On June 29th, 2023, the indie feature Daruma had its world premiere through Dances with Films Film Festival to a sold out crowd at the illustrious TCL Chinese Theatre.

Described by the filmmakers as a dark comedy, the story follows Patrick (a bitter wheelchair user played by Tobias Forrest) who must enlist the help of his cantankerous neighbor Robert (a double amputee veteran played by John W. Lawson) to transport the daughter he never knew he had (a precocious four-year-old played by Victoria Scott) to live with her maternal grandparents on the other side of the country. The film was the recipient of the Project ReFrame stamp of approval from Women in Film and even received the Panavision New Filmmaker Grant which is typically reserved for shorts, and it’s not hard to see why. [continue reading…]

A collective groan could be heard across the world throughout the pandemic. COVID disrupted everyone’s lives and intensified inequalities. Among those hit hardest by the disease are people with disabilities, who are more likely to live in poverty and, for some, on the streets.

Filmed at the height of the pandemic, Yaz Canli’s directorial debut My Home Unknown brings attention to this pressing social issue. The film follows the journey of Mina (Yaz Canli) living on the streets of Los Angeles and experiencing the downward spiral of a mental health crisis, namely schizophrenia. Mina must wrestle with the abusive voices in her mind, while contending with the harsh realities of her present and grief of her past, to find her way home. [continue reading…]

Fall into young Canadian filmmaker Arianna Goarley’s gutsy and gleeful creative cavern as she invokes the wonders of ADHD paired with the world’s most renowned Alice. Her film, The Tea Party, is an Alice in Wonderland-inspired narrative short that explores ADHD and how it manifests in a young person’s life.

The short takes place at the classic tea party scene. Things go awry for Alice when everyone shows up to the party early. This sets in motion a storm of ADHD laden panic, leaving Goarley’s rabbit hole girl to take on her needs as a disabled neurodiverse person while also playing host to the people in her life. [continue reading…]

In a world where mental health is often stigmatized and misunderstood, the writer and director of “Heightened,” Sara Friedman, takes viewers on a transformative journey. The film, which is part of the 2023 Dances with Films festival, dives into what it is like to live with anxiety and borderline obsessive-compulsive disorder. As we are introduced to Nora, also portrayed by Sara Friedman, we witness the challenges she faces and the pivotal moment that catapults her onto a path of self-discovery.

During a panic attack while taking her Bar exam, the true depth of Nora’s challenges become apparent. She begrudgingly returns to her childhood home in Maine where she confronts a series of mental health struggles that have shaped her life. Amidst the turmoil, she finds solace and hope in unexpected places. [continue reading…]