Stroke Awareness and small interviews with students

On April 7th I gave a private presentation/interview about “A Stroke Of Endurance” to a small group of college students online. One student came on the video call a tad early and said that the film was a great inspiration to her and immediately asked how I went about getting permission to film “A Stroke Of Endurance” in certain locations (called location scouting by professionals) and if it was difficult or nerve racking to do so. I responded that the locations shown in “A Stroke Of Endurance” were some of the easiest to work with. Once the rest of the students arrived many of them asked about the true events that roughly inspired “A Stroke Of Endurance” and one asked how I researched and observed strokes and whether I had gotten input from real Stroke Survivors themselves which the answer to is yes I did. We talked about mental health, ableism and the “Super Crip” stereotype. I was asked the meaning of “Crip”. I was asked about IEPs and how the public school system, and college education system are different. Many students asked why Ava had such emotional reactions in the film. We discussed disclosure and privacy as it relates to disability accommodations. Of course some of the usual questions about preferred disability terminology was brought up. I was asked what it was like to act and direct at the same time. Someone asked if I had ever witnessed anybody have a stroke in the middle of the stroke itself as it happened. At the end I was asked what my favorite movie or piece of media was. The interview had a great flow to it. On May 12 2021 I spoke to some developmental psychology students about disability. We talked about Cerebral Palsy, mental health, and work experiences with a disability. One student asked if it was annoying to be called “Inspiring” so I explained the term “Inspiration Porn”. We talked about how some disabled people and other minorities who are often hired simply for a specific identity rather than a specific skill or are over or under estimated in their abilities. We talked about bullying and it’s effect on mental health in the disability community. We talked about appropriate disability terms. One student talked about someone with CP that they knew personally who was in an institution. One student asked if I felt obligated to educate on disability all the time. I explained that I only educated on disability when I felt like it. One person asked if schools and colleges should teach disability studies and about the history of other minorities in the USA. I spoke to many classes in the past few weeks and got feedback from those students. We met disabled students in the UK. The collaboration project is also coming along. Crip Video Productions was featured on Julesworks yet again. We hope to be on Julesworks more in the future. May is Stroke Awareness month. Please share “A Stroke Of Endurance” with a stroke survivor this month!