Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month 2025

https://youtu.be/4VE3EgBQ0DU March is Cerebral Palsy awareness month. This video was originally created in 2021 for a class Dylan Rothbein who is a producer at Crip Video Productions, developed specifically to help parents of disabled children and people pursuing the field of special education to understand the developmental and neurological effects of Cerebral Palsy featuring filmmaker Margot Cole who is the founder and director of Crip Video Productions. If you would like to take one of Dylan Rothbein's classes see here https://dylanrothbein.weebly.com/classes.html To learn more about Cerebral Palsy see here https://cripvideoproductions.com/about.php

Cerebral Palsy Awareness month 2023

Re posted with permission from Dylan Rothbein https://youtu.be/DPivocd0vj8 Haley Brown interviews Margot Cole for Cerebral Palsy Awareness month. This interview mentions Crip Video Productions film "Drama Sighted" ! Margot's films on Cerebral Palsy can be found here http://cripvideoproductions.com March is Cerebral Palsy Month and March 25 is National Cerebral Palsy day in the US. Happy Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month 2023!

A Stroke Of Endurance -Official Trailer

"A Stroke Of Endurance” Official Trailer 

Film Synopsis: A college student with Cerebral Palsy named Ava, and her classmates must deal with the emotional and physical ramifications when their professor has a stroke that leaves him disabled in the middle of the semester when they least expect it. 

To watch “A Stroke Of Endurance” in full for free, see here http://cripvideoproductions.tumblr.com/post/167756665756/a-stroke-of-endurance-a-film-by-margot-cole-the 

http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php 

"A Stroke of Endurance" audio described version (audio described versions are only available as links, not embeds): https://youdescribe.org/video/KIZProYn7R4?ad=5b730bb0e6cc7f461fb09d43

To learn more about Crip Video Productions and view accessible open captioned versions of our films please visit http://cripvideoproductions.comand http://cripvideoproductions.tumblr.com Find Crip Video Productions on google plus here https://plus.google.com/103662816758572885430 

"A Stroke Of Endurance" review/Synopsis archive

This is an archived post from September 2017 from when we were still in the editing process with "A Stroke Of Endurance" but we did not post the review to our official website until after "A Stroke Of Endurance" was uploaded to youtube. To avoid major spoilers please watch "A Stroke Of Endurance"  online for free before reading this post!

Russian embedded dolls where layers of representation keep appearing-that is what resonates in this complex and provocative film "A Stroke Of Endurance" written and directed by Margot Cole, which provides a window into the disability experience and the thoughts and attitudes of ableism. Margot Cole reveals herself to be a multi faceted artist (observing of life, writer, actor, and director). 

In this her latest production released on Youtube, a group of college students, some with disabilities, some without-learn their professor has suffered a devastating stroke, leaving them temporarily unmoored. 

Ms. Cole also acts in the film as the central character Ava, in a flashback scene of her encounter with a college counselor who is clueless about her. Feeling offended by the counselor's rude and condensing attitude and the counselor's insistence that because Ava is physically disabled, she should major in disability studies, Ava indignantly departs the counselling session. 

We next view Ava lamenting over Professor Ben's stroke. She believes it was possibly a result of her silently cursing him, and wishing him dead, because of her dismay over the high cost of a textbook, that Professor Ben had explained, was for required reading. Following the professor's return to the classroom, his students observe him struggling with a difficult recovery. Classmate Alice suggests that Ava might help Professor Ben manage the disabling effects of his stroke by sharing her experience of living with a disability. Alice explains that it "doesn't overcome your life" and in fact one "can actually thrive in spite of a handicap". Ms. Cole imbues her theatre of life with karmic restitution as Professor Ben gratefully accepts Ava's help. Their disabilities inform their relationship showing how endurance and coping with challenges, foster strength. 

Ms. Cole presents to her viewers, through a lens of subjective experiences, the broad spectrum of abilities and disabilities both in herself and in others. Her graceful beauty enhances the dynamic and powerful insights in this film. - Geraldine Pauling (disabled psychologist) NYC 9/09/17

A Stroke Of Endurance

"A Stroke of Endurance" audio described version (audio described versions are only available as links, not embeds): https://youdescribe.org/video/KIZProYn7R4?ad=5b730bb0e6cc7f461fb09d43

A Stroke Of Endurance" Open Captioned version http://cripvideoproductions.tumblr.com/post/168590664831/via-httpswwwyoutubecomwatchv-xnthe1xbybs 

"A Stroke Of Endurance" a film by Margot Cole, the writer and director of "Drama Sighted", "Only Those Who Limp Allowed" and "Crips Not Creeps"

Synopsis: Crip Video Productions presents a story of friendship, faith and endurance... A college student with Cerebral Palsy named Ava, and her classmates must deal with the physical and emotional ramifications when their professor has a stroke that leaves him disabled in the middle of the semester when they least expect it.

Starring (in order of appearance)

Margot Cole as Ava
Jorgiana Cole as Ava’s Mom
Syndia Batise as Disabled Student 1
Emma Lemanski as Disabled Student 2
Betty Lewin as Professor 1
David Salsbery Fry as Professor 2
Jill Marrello as Academic Advisor
Tim Snoha as Professor Ben
Mark Pauling as Student 1
Pedrin Villaman as Student 2
Johnny Diodato as Student 3
Krysta Williams as Student 4
Ashley Villanueva as Student 5
Izabela Ginda as Bella
Ketrina Hazell as Alice

Written and Directed by Margot Cole
Story editing by Jorgiana Cole
Casting by Margot Cole
Cinematography by Jorgiana Cole. Additional Cinematography by Tim Snoha, Johnny Diodato, Krysta Williams

Music composed by Walei Sabry

Special thanks to
Kingsborough Community College
Lori Zucker
JoJo Tarnoff 

Super special thanks to Jorgiana Cole 

©2017 Margot Cole  

Please note: The disabled characters in this film are all portrayed by actors who have disabilities in real life. The use of the word "Crip" in "Crip Video Productions" is not meant as an offense to anyone associated with these films or otherwise. We have full permission to use the locations seen in the film. Crip Video Productions' mission is to increase understanding of disability through storytelling. This film has cursing and some intense scenes and may not be suitable for children under 13.

"A Stroke Of Endurance" is the sole property of Margot Cole/Crip Video Productions.

Fall 2015 screenings and outreach archive

These posts are achieved posts from the Fall 2015. Older posts on bottom:



October 28 2015: KCC Diversity Film Festival

Today I was invited to show my film “Only Those Who Limp Allowed”  for the Diversity Film Festival at my college, Kingsborough Community College. The person who had me do the Brain Injury Presentation earlier this month, suggested the idea of showing my work at the festival. The screening was in a large space so we got quite a large turnout. I introduced the film by mentioning that I am glad that disability is being included in the idea of diversity since I know a lot of people in the disability community would also like to see disability included in diversity. After all people of any and all races can be or become disabled. We showed the version of Only Those Who Limp Allowed that was open captioned.  Then I came up front again to do a Q&A. I got some really nice feedback via the comments and questions. One person mentioned that they didn’t realize people with disabilities had so many different opinions on issues. Another person said that my film made them feel a lot of different emotions. People liked that I brought up issues with dealing with disability in regards to romantic relationships. I got the usual question of what my next project(s) would be. Then one particularly brave person asked essentially “When did you realize you were disabled? When did you realize you were different?” I told her that I was told about my disability at a very young age and made aware that I might be bullied for it and that I felt personally,in my humble opinion, the earlier the person is told about their disability the better they can adapt to their disability instead of letting their disability control their life. Of course my thoughts on this are strictly from the perspective of somebody who was born with Cerebral Palsy instead of somebody who acquired a disability later in life so I realize people’s experiences can and will be different from mine in this area. I was asked what parts of accessibility needed improvement. I feel subways need major accessibility improvements. Somebody else asked about the use of the word “Crip” and I remembered to mention that “Crip” used to have a similar meaning to “creep” and that I wanted to turn this idea on it’s head. Especially in regards to the title “Crips Not Creeps”   At the very end there was the bouncing around of possible ideas for more outreach work with my films. Later on in the day I was also stopped in the hallway by people who had seen the screening and wanted to congratulate me. I met people who were beautiful inside and out today. I am forever grateful to everybody at Kingsborough Community College who put this screening and the entire festival together!!! Special thanks to KCC!!! I have full permission from KCC to write this blog post!

Charity Event and Self Advocacy 

Last night I was invited to a charity event for Para Arts foundation to speak about my work. Para Arts Foundation is a Russian-American foundation that is centered around children and adults with disabilities. This particular event involved disabled people singing,dancing and reading poetry in Russian. They also showed portions of “Crips Not Creeps” in english and asked me to come on stage and speak about the films. They translated my words into Russian. They invited me to return someday and screen the entire film! Special thanks to Para Arts! I was honored to attend!

Then today I was invited to screen all 3 of my films “Drama Sighted” “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” and “Crips Not Creeps” in production order, for a class about self advocacy and independence for young adults who are physically and/or mentally disabled. A dear friend of mine named Colleen recently started working there and came up with the idea of me coming to the class and helped set everything up. She felt my story would inspire these young adults to stand up for themselves. I spoke to the class about my journey as a disabled person with Cerebral Palsy. At first I thought we would only have time to screen 1 film but we were lucky enough to screen all of them because we had extra time. The feedback from the students after each film was amazing! It sounded like the students really related to the characters and topics covered in the films. I loved the honest discussions each film brought about, especially the discussion after “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” We talked about invisible disabilities, bullying and insecurities in people. I even got offers from the students and staff to collaborate on future projects. It is my hope that I have helped these students to learn not to assume to much,learn new things, keep open minds, and make their needs known. I have never spoken to a class like this before. It was an honor and a pleasure. I hope more opportunities to do so will come around again. Super special thanks to Colleen, and the awesome students and staff!!! 

I was given full permission to post this blog update by Para Arts Foundation and AHRC!

Brain Injury Presentation

Today I was asked to do a presentation on brain injury including Cerebral Palsy. I talked about what areas in the brain are commonly injured and what symptoms damage to each area can cause. I talked about how my case of Cerebral Palsy effects my balance in such a way that causes me to constantly feel like I am falling and how I have highly exaggerated reflexes. Then we talked about the fact that brain injuries are permeant and that people must learn to cope throughout their lives with the injury. We used the Crip Video Productions blog and website as a reference. Then we screened the “Crips Not Creeps” trailer  as an example. I gave a postcard about my films to each member of the audience. My hope is that people understand that brain injury is a disability that should be taken seriously but that brain injury is not the end of the world and you can live a life filled with friendship and love with a brain injury. I have never used my films to give a talk mainly meant to educate on the more medical aspects of disability before so it was a learning experience for me to say the least. I am honored we were able to use my films for this presentation. Special thanks to the wonderful group of people who helped me with the presentation!! Their hard work was amazing! I am so glad that my films can be used as a teaching tool as well as to entertain! Please note!!!: I got full permission to make this post from the person who asked me to do this presentation!