Representations of disability on film
The films shown below include both fiction and documentary. DVDs can be sent to other Pace campus libraries. To request a DVD, click on the title of the film, then click on the "Place Hold" button to request that the DVD be sent to your home campus.
Streaming films are available anywhere, as long as you have a Pace username and password.
Disability on film
Through Deaf Eyes: 200 years of Deaf life in America
Streaming video
THROUGH DEAF EYES explores nearly 200 years of Deaf life in America. The film presents the shared experiences of American history—family life, education, work, and community connections—from the perspective of deaf citizens, and showcases a broad range of perspectives on what it means to be deaf. The film is propelled by the stories of people, both eminent and ordinary, and sheds light on events that have shaped Deaf lives. Interviews include community leaders, historians, and deaf Americans with diverse views on language use, technology, and identity. Bringing a Deaf cinematic lens to the film are six artistic works by Deaf media artists and filmmakers. Poignant, sometimes humorous, these films draw on the media artists' own lives and are woven throughout the documentary. But the core of the film remains the larger story of Deaf life in America—a story of conflicts, prejudice, and affirmation that reaches the heart of what it means to be human.
Spectrum - A Story of the Mind: The Rich Sensory Experience of Autism
Streaming video
SPECTRUM explores autism through the lens of diverse characters on the spectrum. The documentary aired on PBS stations nationwide for Autism Awareness Month.
Dr. Temple Grandin, the most well-known autistic person in the world, breaks down the link between autism and sensory experiences. Her descriptions are illustrated with vivid character animation.
Sins Invalid: An Unshamed Claim to Beauty
Streaming video: available with audio description
Sins Invalid witnesses a performance project that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and queer and gender-variant artists. Since 2006, its performances have explored themes of sexuality, beauty, and the disabled body, impacting thousands through live performance. Sins Invalid is as an entryway into the absurdly taboo topic of sexuality and disability, manifesting a new paradigm of disability justice.
Murderball
A Cerebral Game
Streaming video
Baseball was so much more than a game for Reid Davenport when he was growing up. It was about belonging and being a teammate, despite having cerebral palsy. While Reid didn’t play, he relished talking about his beloved New York Yankees with his teammates, eating sunflower seeds and yelling advice to players. This was the closest Reid would ever come to playing the game he loved.
However, as Reid entered his teenage years, he started to feel increasingly like an outcast. In this intimately personal film, Reid explores the parallel between his adolescent loneliness and his ultimate rejection of the game he loved. Reid narrates his own story and uses his shaky movements to mirror both the physical and emotional experience of going through adolescence with a disability.
Practitioners on Practice - Graeae Theatre Company: An interview with Jenny Sealey
Streaming video
Jenny Sealey has lead Graeae Theatre Company for 19 years as its Artistic Director. Renowned for pioneering work with emerging and established deaf and disabled theatre makers, Graeae has been instrumental in improving accessibility across the industry.
The State of Eugenics: The Story of Americans Sterilized Against Their Will
Streaming video
Between 1933 and 1974, North Carolina ran one of the most aggressive eugenics programs in the world, sterilizing more than 7,600 men, women and children....
This film follows the journey of survivors, legislators and journalists who insist the state confront its role in the tragic, forced sterilization of thousands of Americans thought to have “undesirable” genetics. As survivors’ stories unfold in the film, a new effort to atone for the wrongs done to them emerges— monetary compensation. Welcome to THE STATE OF EUGENICS, where survivors are not forgotten and justice is a little more than an illusion.
Let There Be Light
A documentary filmed at an Army hospital which records actual treatment of World War II veterans suffering from neuropsychiatric conditions, commonly referred to as "shell shock" and "battle fatigue," as a result of their battle experiences. Treatment methods include hypnosis, narcotherapy and psychiatric therapy. In 1946, just before its first public showing, the film was confiscated by the policy group of Army Public Relations. It wasn't made available for general viewing until 1981 when distributed by National Audiovisual Center.
TheatreMakers: Amelia Cavallo on Performance Art
Streaming video
In this interview, Amelia Cavallo explains the difficulties and challenges of developing a career as a disabled, queer, female theatre-maker whose aim is to shine a light on the stories that aren’t often told. Cavallo explores her interest in approaching performance from multiple perspectives and disciplines such as music, acrobatics and burlesque, and emphasises the need for more accessible performances.
Celebrating diversity : a universal message from the real Rain Man
Edie & Thea : a very long engagement
Thank You For Your Service: The Reality of War Inflicted Mental Illnesses
Streaming video
The U.S. military faces a mental health crisis of historic proportions. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE takes aim at our superficial understanding of war trauma and the failed policies that result. Director Tom Donahue (Casting By) interweaves the stories of four struggling Iraq War veterans with candid interviews of top military and civilian leaders. Observing the systemic neglect, the film argues for significant internal change and offers a roadmap of hope.
