SOURCE: Cambridge Friends School
May 27, 2008 08:00 ET
"Labeled Disabled" Film Challenges Myths of Physical Disability
Documentary Film by Cambridge Friends School Teacher Maggie Doben Premieres May 31st in Watertown, Mass.
CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwire - May 27, 2008) - "What happened to that person?" "Why are they
in a wheelchair?" "Is that a fake leg?" "Labeled Disabled," a new
documentary film by Maggie Doben, a first-grade teacher at Cambridge
Friends School, shows how children can understand physical disability
through personal experiences with disabled people.
For the last decade, Doben's students have discussed stereotypes and
discriminatory behaviors that society imposes on the disabled. Her film,
"Labeled Disabled," documents what actually happens in a classroom setting
when children challenge prejudice.
Classroom visitors invited by Doben are candid about their lives. They talk
about paralysis, blindness and about being little people. They describe
what it is like to be born with one hand, to have a prosthetic leg, and how
they can do everything anyone else can do, despite their disability.
"From doctors and hip hop artists to parents and disability advocates,
volunteers speak about what it is like to use a wheelchair, have a guide
dog or experience life as a little person," said Maggie Doben, classroom
teacher, Cambridge Friends School. "As children meet people with
disabilities, their comfort level deepens and they understand more about a
subject that most adults are afraid to discuss."
"Labeled Disabled" offers a glimpse of the everyday lives of Doben's
disabled community members. Jaimi Laird, a deafblind woman who is a
spokesperson for Perkins School for the Blind, answers the questions of
first-grade students who wonder how she learned to sign -- and then she
shows them by signing into their hands. Keith Jones, a well-known hip hop
artist who is living with cerebral palsy, playfully shows students how he
draws and writes with his feet. Jones also talks about his family -- a wife
and child. Dr. Jennifer Arnold, a neonatal physician who is a little
person, talks about how she loves using one of the child-friendly bathrooms
in the hospital because of the "little toilet, little sink, little soap,"
explaining that it's "the only time I can ever see myself in a mirror in a
bathroom!"
Doben is hopeful that her film will help to change the world by changing
minds: "Upon seeing this film, viewers will be inspired to rethink and
deepen their own knowledge and understanding of disability."
About "Labeled Disabled"
"Labeled Disabled" is a 50-minute documentary film featuring disability
advocates and students, teachers and parents of Cambridge Friends School
and other K-8 schools. The film's executive producer is Maggie Doben and
its editor is Ed Delgado.
The film was funded by Cambridge Commission for People with Disabilities
and by The Dody Waring Faculty Development Fund.
Sponsors of the film premiere include Cambridge Friends School; University
Disability Services, Harvard University Office of the President and
Provost; and Watertown Commission for People with Disabilities.
For More Information
The world premiere of "Labeled Disabled" will take place May 31, 2008 at
2:00 p.m. at the Watertown Public Library, 123 Main Street, Watertown,
Massachusetts. The event, which will include a reception, screening and
panel discussion with some of the disability advocates who appear in the
film, is free and open to the public. To reserve seats, please email:
info@labeleddisabledfilm.com.
Additional screenings are also scheduled for June 12, 2008 at CinemaSalem
in Salem, Mass. and September 24, 2008 at Cambridge Friends School in
Cambridge, Mass.
For more information, please visit: www.labeleddisabledfilm.com.