Several things have happened over the past month or so that
kind of tickled the need for this particular post. I was working in a district with some
professionals who really have not had much experience with children with
disabilities, but who very much want to learn.
Specifically, we were talking about deafness, and the conversation
turned to understanding more about the impacts on families and about some of
the social issues and concerns that come into play for the kids as they get
older. The conversation progressed, and
eventually arrived at a time when I had to leave and move on to my next stop on
that trip. I told them that I was going
to give them ‘homework’. Basically 2
movies that I think, while not being perfect, give a good picture of a number
of these topics.
About 2 weeks ago, my son asked me if we could request a
movie on Netflix that he wanted to see.
It was a movie I had never heard of before, but told him that it was not
a problem, to go ahead and add it and move it to the top of the queue, which he
did.
The more I’ve been thinking about it, the more I think
most folks who work with kids with disabilities or their families (not just
deafness or blindness, but kids with any disability) should take the time to
watch the 3 movies that I’m going to mention.
The first movie is “Children of a Lesser God”. It is a good look at some of the conflicts
between ideologies that can and often exist between the deaf and hearing worlds’
perspectives.
The second movie is one that I have a really hard time watching. I’ve seen all of it, but never in one sitting. I have to walk away from the movie, and then
come back later to see a little more, and repeat the process until it is
done. It is “Mr. Holland’s Opus”. Most of the articles you read about it deal
with Richard Dreyfuss and his life as a music teacher. For me (and for many parents) it is about his
role as a father of a child who is deaf, trying to come to grips with
everything that means, and find a way to deal with it. So many fathers and families go through these
same issues. If you have spent any time
in the disability world and not picked up on this, then we really need
to have a conversation. Again, this
movie is very hard for me to watch. It
is one that gets into a place inside me that I keep locked and barricaded and
this movie tries to force it open. Truth
be told, I think that all of us who are dads of kids with special needs have
this place inside of us, and often our ability to function depends on keeping
this vault closed. What we put into it,
and how large it is, varies from father to father, but it is there. For me, this movie tries to dynamite that
vault open.
The third movie is the one I had never heard of until Ian
asked if we could get it. That movie
stars Daniel Day-Lewis. It is called “My
Left Foot”. It is actually a true story,
and is based on the autobiography of a man named Christy Brown, who was born in
1932 in Dublin, Ireland. Brown was born
with cerebral palsy and initially his family was told that he had limited
mental capacities at best and probably should be committed. Instead the family raised him at home. The title comes from the fact that the only
limb he had real control over was his left leg.
Without going into all the details that make the movie worth watching,
suffice it to say he became a successful artist, writer, and poet. He published a number of books and three
collections of poetry during his life. It is a movie worth watching simply because
everyone, professionals and parents alike, need to be reminded of the potential
of the individual, and the need to look beyond a diagnosis and see the individual.
