Wednesday, January 29, 2020

3 Presentations in one Big Day


On January 27th 2020,  I did 3 presentations about Crip Video Productions films with members of my cast. John Diodato and I did the first regular presentation together where we discussed Cerebral Palsy, IEPs, the Moro Reflex as it relates to Cerebral Palsy, and diabetes. One student asked how large my fanbase was. I told her about my various fans from India, The Netherlands, Canada, Italy and Ghana Africa. One person asked why some people with disabilities may be offended if they are called inspiring so I tried my best to explain “Inspiration P#rn” as a term and the difference between good and bad forms of inspiration.  One disabled student said he loved acting and was kind enough to offer his services to Crip Video Productions future projects. 

This disabled student ended up coming with us to film the first of 2 video recorded presentations for the TV show created by Professor Mary Lynn Navarro of Kingsborough Community College titled “Students TALK”. https://cripvideoproductions.tumblr.com/post/189108164086/video-interview https://cripvideoproductions.tumblr.com/post/189483544466/video-interview-2 
 Tim Snoha, John Diodato, Izabela Ginda, Betty Lewin and myself from “A Stroke Of Endurance” participated as well as Daniel Liriano from the films “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” and “Crips Not Creeps”. It was so nice to have my actors input. We had a mix of my disabled and able bodied performers presenting together in a panel with a documentary like style. Many of the questions were either disability or media related like what movies we liked, and how we met each other. Some of the actors talked about how they originally found my casting calls for my films on this blog. Tim Snoha mentioned “Inclusion In The Arts” which has since been disbanded and shut down unfortunately. 

During the second of the video recorded presentations for “Students Talk” we got into a more serious discussion of instances where my actors had been discriminated against for being disabled, instances where my able bodied performers saw disabled people they knew having their privacy violated, and what each performer thought of terms like “Differently Abled” and “Disabled”. Some of the answers surprised me, I learned a lot of good new things, and I was reminded how wonderful it was to work with these individuals! Some of the student audience shared their own disability related experiences and  really connected well with us.

Super special thanks to Mary Lynn Navarro, Tim Snoha, John Diodato, Izabela Ginda, Betty Lewin, and Daniel Liriano as well as everyone else involved in all the presenations for such a fabulous experience! 

See our tumblr page to view photos from that day. 

Please note: "Students Talk" has NOT been released yet. "Students TALK" is NOT owned by Crip Video Productions!