JORDAN: Thank you, folks.
So, good afternoon, thank you all for coming.
My name is Jordan,
I'm the Program Director at Rooted in Rights.
We're a video and social media advocacy program
dedicated exclusively to disability rights issues.
We're based at Disability Rights Washington,
which is just down the street this way.
It's one of the offices in the International District,
and then over here in the other room,
Disability Rights Washington has a table set up
for some of the advocacy work
and campaigns to do right now.
So after this, if you have a moment,
please stop by and say hello.
For Rooted in Rights, as I mentioned,
our focus is video and social media.
Our mission is to tell authentic, accessible stories
that empowers our community
to advocate for disability rights.
I should've memorized that by now,
but I still have to cheat.
We also provide a platform for our communities
to tell their own stories.
And we'll be talking a lot about that today.
Our issues are local, national and international,
and that's why you'll see some folks who are
joining us by video chat today from around the country
who work on our team.
The rest of our panel, these are all folks
who work on the team,
and I'm honored and blessed to work with them
every single day.
I cannot wait to introduce them to you.
Just a couple of housekeeping things before we get started.
We are going to be playing a couple of videos
throughout our program today.
If you're just joining us, these will appear
on screen behind us, it will also be
on the video screens out in the audience.
Videos are both open captioned and audio described.
And if you have any questions
about how that works,
we're going to get into that in a little bit
as part of the presentation.
So now I'm going to have the panelists introduce themselves
and we'll get going.
So I'm going to start directly to my left
with Courtney.
COURTNEY: Hi everyone,
my name is Courtney Cole,
I'm a Creative Production Assistant at Rooted in Rights,
and I've been with Rooted in Rights
for about a year now.
RACHEL: My name is Rachel Miyazaki,
I'm also a Creative Production Assistant,
and I just started in December so I'm pretty new.
Cuquis, did you want to go next?
CUQUIS: Hi, I'm Cuquis Robledo,
and I am the Storytellers Coordinator at Rooted in Rights,
and I've been working for Rooted in Rights
for almost three years.
So it's been awhile, been a great ride.
And I am coming to you live from Houston, Texas.
And Vanessa?
VANESSA: Hi, I'm Vanessa Link.
I live on Whidbey Island.
I'm a Creative Production intern for Rooted in Rights.
I've been doing that for just over a year,
and I work on graphic design projects
that promote disability rights.
Emily?
EMILY: Hi, my name is Emily Ladau,
I'm coming to you from Long Island, New York,
and I'm the Editor in Chief of the Rooted in Rights blog.
JORDAN: Great.
So we're going to go ahead and watch a video now,
and then we'll come back and chat for a little bit.
Once we're done with the videos and the chatting,
we're going to leave some time for all of you
so if you have questions,
please keep them handy until the end
and we'll get to them at that time.
Thank you very much.
JEN: So I think it's really tough
to be a little person (LP) in the job force.
JEN: I think it's important for,
I think, the LP community as a whole
to really not undervalue our capabilities
and the things that we can do
with our careers.
CUQUIS: Hi!
My name is Cuquis Robledo
and today I want to talk about an issue
that is very personal to me.
As you may have noticed, I am a little person.
Specifically, I have Spondyloepimetaphyseal Dysplasia.
Otherwise known as SEMD, for short.
Because of our short stature,
some little people are sometimes stuck in jobs
that reflect our short size predominantly.
These include jobs such as,
Christmas elves at the mall or entertainers
who are often perceived as sexualized "micro" versions
of famous celebrities
such as: "mini Gaga"
or "mini Britney Spears."
Now, I am not saying that taking these jobs is a bad thing,
but rather, we can have any job in the world
and we do not have to settle!
Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with
the stars of TLC's "The Little Couple" and
get their thoughts on the challenges little people
face in the workforce.
BILL: My name is Bill Klein. I am an entrepreneur.
JEN: My name is Jennifer Arnold, and I am a Neonatologist,
but I'm also a simulation educator,
and so, as a physician,
I primarily do education.
BILL: There's a lot of labeling that goes on
that takes our stature and puts us into
a bucket of, you can either be in entertainment
or you shouldn't be doing work.
JEN: So when I was, you know,
a candy striper volunteering in the ER,
I was, you know, checking in on a couple,
an older couple, and they said to me,
"You're working here?"
I said, "Yeah, I'm volunteering this summer
and I'm planning on going to medical school."
And they said, "Oh, why would you go to medical school?"
And I said, "Well, I want to become a doctor."
And they said, "Well, you know, don't you juggle
"or play the piano or,
do some type of entertainment?"
And I was like, "Uh, no?"
BILL: So you're not a good juggler?
JEN: No! [laughing]
BILL: I graduated NYU with a degree in Biology.
I went out into the workforce
and started applying for jobs.
There was a lot resistance, both because
my appearance wasn't what they were looking for,
and I wasn't prepared.
I would say the first thing you need to do is
know that you have value
that you're bringing to your prospective employer.
The second thing is,
you need to address it
if people are being shy.
You need to outwardly address
the concern that they might have.
It's not an obligation,
but I think it's something that helps you be
more productive so that you can take that issue,
disarm them, and move on.
CUQUIS: There is more awareness out there.
However, that does not mean that little people
are necessarily treated equally in the workforce.
We still have a long way to go.
Whether a little person is a student, like myself,
a neonatologist, a TV star,
a business person, a lawyer,
or even a stay-at-home parent,
we all have something in common:
we deserve the right
and equal opportunity
to work hard for the job that we deserve.
Written and directed by Cuquis Robledo.
Thanks to Bill and Jen.
[audience applause]
JORDAN: Great.
Cuquis, if you're with us?
Okay, great.
Why don't you just start talking about,
why did you choose this subject to make this video?
CUQUIS: Yeah! So, um, well one for obvious reasons:
I am a little person,
and when I was making the video,
I was just almost out of college,
so one, I was about to go into the workforce myself.
And, as well, I know,
I've known Jen and Bill for a really long time now,
and one of the reasons why I wanted
to interview them specifically was because
they were very successful people,
I know they've gone through ups and downs in trying to find,
to get to where they are today.
Jen's a successful doctor,
Bill's a successful businessman,
and I wanted to know, and get to know more insight on,
tips on, in the future, if I, or anyone who's a litte person
or anyone who has a disability needs to go out
in the workforce, what are some good ways to
you know, show that, you know,
I have the right to any job.
And I wanted to get their perspective on
this issue as well.
JORDAN: Great.
So, you pointed out something we talk about quite a bit,
in our work at Rooted in Rights,
can you just go over some of the barriers
that people with disabilities sometimes face
when trying to get a job, or even after they get a job?
CUQUIS: Yeah, yeah!
Well, there's, um,
I know we've also talked about this issue a lot,
the issue of sub-minimum wage
and how people with disabilities,
if they are in the workforce,
some companies will pay them less
than minimum wage,
because there's this perception of, you know,
they're not capable of doing
X amount of work, or that they're lazy,
but, you know, that's just wrong to begin with,
to begin with that perception.
If you're looking specifically at, you know,
little people in the workforce,
there's this misconception of size.
Like, for instance, I'm three feet,
one and a half inches tall,
so, you know, doing anything that's like
labor-intensive or, you know, reaching things,
is sometimes a challenge.
So there's this perception of,
"Oh, just because you're short in stature,
"you're not gonna amount to anything great.
"You're not going to amount to actually you know
"doing the job at full capacity.
"So, you know,
why bother even giving you the shot?"
But, I think it's important
that we go out there and show,
you know, with videos like this,
that, hey, look at us!
You know, we may be small, we may have a disability,
but we have every right in the world
to get a job, to prove to people
that we can be successful people in life.
JORDAN: Great.
And so we did this video,
and I don't actually know if you know this Cuquis
but you said you were going to do this video,
but you didn't tell me about Bill and Jen.
Then you sent your footage in,
and you had these great TV stars in your movie.
We weren't expecting this. [audience laughter]
So we looked at this, and then, you know,
how did this then turn into the Storytellers Series?
Can you tell us a little bit about how that works?
CUQUIS: Yeah, so when I first did this video,
I was actually,
I was still at school,
I had this idea in mind,
and this was after I worked with Rooted in Rights for...
this was back in 2016.
I had finished working there for a summer,
and I talked to Jordan and I said,
"Hey I would like to do more videos,
and I have this story I'd like to try out."
So Jordan said, "okay."
He sent me a template on how to write a script,
so I wrote my script remotely,
we communicated back and forth via email, webchat.
I filmed the video on my own,
and then they did all the editing in-house,
and then we realized that,
if I'm someone who has a disability
who's making videos remotely,
other people with disabilities probably have
stories that they want to share,
issues that they want to share,
but they may not necessarily be remote,
they may be from other places in the country.
They may be from other parts of the world.
And so we came up with the Storytellers Series,
where, as the coordinator,
I teach people with disabilities how to
write their own script,
I train them, we have a video kit that includes
an iPhone, a camera-phone,
a tripod, headphones,
microphone, and we send them,
we ship it out to our Storytellers,
and I teach them via video chat
how to use the equipment to make their own videos.
And then they send the footage in,
and they explain how they want the video to be formatted,
how they want it to be edited,
and then we do the editing for them
with, you know,
we communicate back and forth,
they give us feedback about how they want it to look
with graphics and animation,
and the reason why this series is important is because,
you know, a lot of people,
when they advocate for people with disabilities,
it's usually able-bodied people that are telling the stories
of people with disabilities.
So this series is different
because it's people with disabilities
that are in control of sharing those stories,
and they're the ones telling their authentic narrative.
And that's important, because, you know,
we're the ones that have to go through these challenges,
these obstacles, on a day-to-day basis.
So, you know, who better then to share their story
and to talk about these issues,
than the person that's actually dealing with these issues
on a regular day basis?
JORDAN: That's great and we're gonna hear that theme come up
again and again in this bit of the program today.
And you're going to see two more of the Storytellers videos.
So Cuquis, before we move on,
if people want to support the Storytellers Series,
where can they go?
[Cuquis laughs]
CUQUIS: Well, you can go to
RootedinRights.org, we have a whole bunch
of videos out there that we've had about,
I think, like about 11 storytellers
and this program's been going on for about
two years, and then also we have
a Patreon page, where you can support the Storytellers,
it's patreon.com/RiRStorytellers,
and basically, making a Storytellers video
is not cheap.
And so any support that you can give
will help our Storytellers produce films,
and you can get behind-the-scenes footage
of, you know, what goes into making these videos.
So that's patreon.com/RiRStorytellers
if you're interested in supporting our series.
JORDAN: Well thank you, we can talk to
any one of these folks forever.
We are going to move on,
we're going to watch the second video now.
♫ upbeat music ♫
FEMALE VOICE: Should students have to choose between
academics and independence?
Blind students have to.
Hi, my name is Courtney Cole
and I'm a college student from Seattle, Washington.
In Washington state,
blind students have the option
to attend their local public school
or to attend the Washington State School for the Blind,
WSSB, located in Vancouver, Washington.
WSSB is a public school that is free to attend
if your application is accepted
and serves legally blind students in Washington state.
Living in on-site dormitories,
students are immersed in a community
of peers and mentors with similar experiences.
Students are able to receive instruction
in Braille, orientation & mobility,
and other everyday skills that are necessary
to living an independent life as a blind person.
However, while there are many opportunities
for blindness training at WSSB,
it lacks academic opportunities
such as Advanced Placement courses.
I spoke with Josiah Sanchez who attended both WSSB
and public school to get some insight on the issue.
JOSIAH: I go to Western Washington University,
majoring in behavioral neuroscience.
There's definitely an obvious difference between
the speed and intensity of academics.
There are definitely some classes
that I feel did prepare me,
but their science and mathematics curriculum,
I wouldn't say prepared me
for what I might encounter in university.
COURTNEY: In addition, the segregated nature of WSSB
means that students are often missing out
on exposure to the community at large,
which is essential to developing important social skills.
COURTNEY: Since WSSB has only one location,
it's also a possibility that students can be
far from home and their families.
Public school is the alternative
to state schools for the blind.
In a public school setting,
blind students must be proactive
about advocating for their needs,
which can be positive for building self-confidence.
But, the public school system can be full of red tape
which makes makes it difficult for blind students
to get the equipment and accommodations that they need.
JOSIAH: If public schools did have the education
and were able to provide these accommodations
then I think that
having a separate school wouldn't be necessary.
Some public schools, they don't have
the right accommodations or aren't able to
or aren't educated on how to accommodate properly.
COURTNEY: We're forced to choose between
independence skills and academic opportunity,
a decision that able-bodied students
never have to make.
You have the right to a free,
appropriate, public education.
Written and directed by Courtney Cole.
Special thanks to Josiah Sanchez,
Abbey Cole and Seattle University.
[audience applause]
JORDAN: So that short video was directed by Courtney,
who's to my left.
Courtney, how many videos have you made that you directed?
COURTNEY: That would be the only one.
The first one. [audience chuckles]
JORDAN: So why did you choose this
for your very first video?
COURTNEY: So, I was actually introduced to this topic
in 2015 when I attended a camp for
blind and visually-impaired students
here in Seattle.
And, it just sort of struck me,
the difference between the experience of
someone like me, who went to public school
their entire life and some other campers who
had gone to the School for the Blind for their entire life.
And I also met Josiah, who really discussed with me
the difference in having experienced both schools.
And that's definitely something that stuck with me
for a long time, so when I came to Rooted in Rights,
and realized that, hey, I have this ability
to tell stories about things that are important to me,
I really wanted to talk about this issue.
JORDAN: Great, and so you put it out
a few months ago now, right?
What was the reaction you've had online?
COURTNEY: Um, so,
since this was my first film,
I really didn't know what to expect,
putting it out online to our thousands
and thousands of viewers.
And the response I got was very mixed
on this particular video.
And, you know, people in the blindness community
are often divided on a wide variety of issues.
But what I found was I actually got
some really negative responses
from people within my community.
And at first, I was kind of worried about that.
I was concerned, I was like,
"oh, people don't like my video"
but I came to realize that
the reality of when we're making
this kind of content is that
one of the best things that can happen
is to get a negative response from people
because that means that you're making people
think about these issues and start a conversation and
so that, honestly, became
one of the things that I was proudest of about this video.
JORDAN: So when you're saying "negative feedback",
what do you mean, like,
disagreed with your premise in the video?
COURTNEY: Yeah, so there were people who just
really stand behind School for the Blind
and what it's doing and believe that there are
very solid reasons for it to exist.
Whereas I really believe that if public schools
could do their job in accommodating,
that there would be no need to separate
students based on their disability,
and really behind all of that, I believe
that it violates the rights of students with disabilities
to separate them for that reason.
JORDAN: So before we let you go,
I do want to talk a little bit more about
some of the work you do with us.
So can you describe just your kind of day-to-day
at Rooted in Rights, and also tell us
a little bit about how our audio description process works?
COURTNEY: Yeah, sure, so
being a Creative Production Assistant basically means that
I don't have one job, I have about 16.
And so, on day-to-day,
I do anything from some editing,
I am working on a little bit of promotional material,
I work on some administrative tasks
that keep the day-to-day rush.
But one thing that, specifically, I work a lot on
is audio description.
And it's something that a lot of people
don't really know about because it's not
widely implemented in film yet.
But it's something that's super important.
What it actually is is a verbal description of
what's going on visually in the film or video
that you probably heard
when you were listening to my video.
And it allows for people
who can't experience content visually
or have a limited ability to experience content visually
to get the full sense of the media.
And it runs right alongside captions
with being something that's so important and essential
for people to be able to experience the media
and so I work really hard on creating scripts
and voice recording audio description
and working to make it better and better
and implement it in a way that is natural
and that's ingrained in the media as kind of
a creative addition, rather than something that's
tacked on at the end of something.
JORDAN: And how many videos have you audio described?
COURTNEY: Oh, boy.
Um... Many. [Courtney laughs]
Many. Well, if you go to RootedinRights.org
and watch a lot of our content, you'll hear my voice
in the background, explaining what's going on,
and so that's what that is.
It's something that I'm really dedicated to
at Rooted in Rights and it's something that we do
that's very unique, I think.
JORDAN: If you guys want to learn more about it,
we'll be here afterwards to chat with you.
You should definitely chat with Courtney,
she's probably one of the experts in the country, right now,
on doing it specifically for social media,
which is very cool.
And if you want to learn more about it too,
if you have Netflix, a lot of Netflix movies now
are adding audio description.
You can actually turn that on through your app
if you want to hear a more, a different way of
going about it.
Alright, and like I said, I could talk to Courtney forever
so we're gonna move on,
we're gonna show our third film, right now.
EMILY: Hi, my name is Emily Ladau,
and I'm a Rooted in Rights Storyteller.
This election, disability rights activists
are working hard to bring disability issues
into the spotlight.
Our position is simple:
disability rights are human rights.
And since, according to the U.S. Census Bureau,
nearly one in five Americans have a disability,
we want both campaigns and the public
to take notice.
And it seems the candidates are taking notice,
thanks to strong advocacy initiatives
like the non-partisan "Crip The Vote,"
a campaign to bring disability rights issues
into the spotlight this election.
But the question is: "Are people recognizing
"disability as a key election issue
"in an exploitative way
or a substantive way?"
Take, for example,
the issue of Donald Trump mocking the disabled reporter.
TRUMP: This guy, "ah, I don't know what I said,
ah, I don't remember!"
[Slow, patriotic music]
[Record scratch]
EMILY: That incident brought disability
some of the most attention that it's received
this entire election.
And that should be a good thing, right?
Well, it wasn't necessarily the kind of attention
that disability advocates are hoping to receive.
Donald Trump's rebuttal to the issue
made out disabled people to be a charity case.
His response?
"Who would do that to the handicapped?
I've spent lots of money making buildings accessible."
Well, let me tell you, Donald Trump.
There's more to disability rights
than making buildings accessible.
And then, there's Grace.
This ad features parents of
a young girl with spina bifida
talking about Donald Trump's mocking behavior
and how much it shocked them.
MOTHER: The children at Grace's school all know
never to mock her.
And so for an adult to mock someone
with a disability is shocking.
EMILY: And sure, it's never okay
to mock someone with a disability.
But, is it okay to use someone with a disability
to tug at the heartstrings of voters?
And where was the voice of someone who has a disability?
Then there's Dante.
DANTE: When I was one year old,
I was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer
on my spinal cord.
But I spend my whole life fighting back.
EMILY: This ad features a disabled person
expressing their disgust at Donald Trump
mocking people with disabilities.
And this is exactly how it should be:
a disabled person speaking up for themselves.
But again, the problem is:
Where is the discussion about actual policy issues?
And why is disability being used to tug
at voters' heartstrings?
There's a big difference between
using disability to play with voter's emotions
and talking about the very real concerns and experiences
that people with disabilities face every single day.
So it's time for the candidates to go deeper.
Much deeper.
I'm talking about employment opportunities,
affordable and accessible housing,
healthcare and insurance coverage,
Social Security,
inclusive education,
the list goes on and on.
It's time to recognize,
no matter what your political views are,
that the disability community,
which makes up the world's largest, most diverse minority
and one fifth of the population of America,
has a right to representation in this election.
Written and directed by Emily Ladau.
[audience applause]
JORDAN: So a little flashback to 2016.
Not my favorite year,
I'm sure not many of your favorite years either.
So Emily,
do you think political messaging has changed since 2016?
EMILY: Yes, and no.
I would say that it's been an issue that is getting
more attention but not always the right attention.
So disabled people are often represented in the media as
objects of inspiration or pity
or the "over-comer" or the victim.
I wonder if anybody in the room is familiar
with the term "inspiration porn?"
And I usually get a little bit of a shock value response
when I use the word inspiration porn,
but the reason it's called that is because
porn, in some manifestations,
objectifies the people who are in it.
And so inspiration porn is the objectification
of somebody with a disability
for the sake of your own warm, fuzzy emotions,
that evokes some kind of emotion in you.
And so I'm sure you've all seen and perhaps even shared
something on your Facebook timeline to the effect of:
"The only disability in life is a bad attitude,"
with a little kid who maybe has a prosthetic leg
running along a track or something like that.
And so that would be inspiration porn because
you're supposed to be inspired by the kid
and you're supposed to be inspired to
persevere because whatever problems you're having
can't possibly be as bad as the problems
this little kid with a disability is having.
So, that's a pretty common media trope,
as is, like I mentioned before,
pity or being the "over-comer" or the victim.
So there are some very stereotypical narratives
in disability.
And when it comes to the incident of
Trump mocking the disabled reporter,
people treated this like it was the most
egregious thing he had done.
So he could say whatever he wanted
but he lost people when
he mocked somebody with a disability.
That was the line.
And the media latched onto that.
And even a year plus into his presidency now,
people are still hearkening back to it.
You know, it's always,
you know, "He can say all these horrible things,
but no, disability is untouchable."
And this points to a larger issue
around media representation and coverage of disability,
which is that disabled people need
more substantive coverage,
and more substantive political messaging.
So we saw a lot of this happen during the fight to
prevent the repeal of Obamacare,
where reporters were actually addressing the issues at hand,
but there were also a bunch of people who were like,
"Oh my god, how dare you drag those poor disabled people
"out of the building for protesting?
How low could you get?"
And the focus ended up on "those poor disabled people"
instead of "those empowered activists."
So we really need to shift away from either
putting disabled people on a pedestal
or seeing them as fragile and untouchable,
and we need to start recognizing that
disabled people are humans
whose basic rights are essentially being stripped away
by the current administration, one day at a time.
We need to remember to keep the focus
on those really substantive issues
in order to actually make a change.
JORDAN: So the folks in this room are advocates,
I'm sure, of different flavors.
How can they avoid "inspiration porn"--
creating it, sharing it, accidentally doing it,
or anything else, not just "inspiration porn."
But how can they basically authentically communicate
on these issues?
EMILY: So there is a saying
when it comes to the disability rights movement.
The saying goes, "Nothing About Us Without Us,"
and put simply, that means
if you're talking about disability issues,
then disabled people need to be at the table.
And not only do they need to be at the table,
they need to be at the head of the table.
And I think that something that very well-meaning
people who identify themselves
as allies of the disability community often forget
is that in order to truly be an ally,
you have to know when you need to step back
and amplify the voices of people who are actually disabled,
rather than speaking for us.
And this happens much more often than you think:
the assumptions that the disability community
is incapable for speaking up for ourselves
in whatever way we choose to communicate
or can communicate.
And so, I ask people to remember, very simply,
that authenticity and genuine, respectful coverage
of disabilities stems from inclusion.
And that means including the disability community
in all that you do, and then going a step further than that
and not just including us, but making sure
that our voices are centered in the conversations
about our issues.
JORDAN: Great, well that leads us
to the next thing I'd like you to talk about,
which is the blog.
Can you talk about the work that you do on the blog
and how we try to practice what we preach
with the project?
EMILY: Yeah, so,
the Rooted in Rights blog is a platform
where people who identify as disabled
can share their stories and
get their narratives out there into the world.
So they talk about personal experience
that's rooted in a more -
- deeply focused disability rights issue.
And a top priority for me, as editor in chief of the blog
is ensuring that our representation is intersectional.
So while we welcome disabled people to write for us,
we highly value people who not only identify as disabled
but also have other multiple marginalized identities
as part of that, and sharing their stories.
We don't just want to talk about disabilities
as though it exists in a vacuum or a bubble.
We want people to realize that disability is something
that can intertwine with any other identity.
It doesn't matter who you are,
it doesn't matter where you are,
disability can touch your life at any time.
And I'm saying that not as a threat,
even though it can sound scary to people
who are not disabled,
but to recognize that disability is really something
that can be kind of intrinsically part of anybody's life.
And we need to recognize it as an identity
and not just as a negative or something that we stigmatize.
And this is especially important for people
with multiple marginalized identities.
So if you were disabled and you are a black person,
or if you were disabled and you are queer or trans,
those are the stories that we really need to hear,
because those are the stories that we're not hearing at all.
Right now coverage of disability in mainstream media
is often very surface-level.
Often focused on telling the story
of the white, cis, heterosexual disabled person.
I mean, we need to move away from that.
We need to be talking about people
with multiple marginalized identities.
Not only do we need to be talking about it,
but we need to be letting them tell their own stories.
And so that's what the Rooted in Rights blog does.
And if I may be so bold as to make a pitch
for people to make pitches to me -
- it's very easy, you just go
to RootedinRights.com/blog,
and, or actually I believe it's a little bit more of a -
- URL than that.
I don't want to give you the wrong one,
but since I happen to have it right
in front of me at my computer,
it's RootedInRights.org/about/submitablogidea,
or you can just go to our homepage,
click on "Blog,"
and then click on "Submit a Blog Idea"
in the drop-down menu.
We are looking for disabled people
with multiple marginalized identities
and I really encourage people to remember
that this does not just mean physical disabilities.
This can be mental health disabilities,
chronic illnesses,
because we take back our power
by telling our stories.
JORDAN: Hearing you say that out loud,
we've got to fix that on the website and
make that a little easier.
Before we let you go,
of the people on the panel today
I think you probably spend the most time
traveling in social media, both in working
with Rooted In Rights and elsewhere.
Have you encountered
- or I should say, I know you have -
how do you handle it when we get a troll
on Twitter, Facebook, when you post your blog post,
when those issues are out there?
EMILY: I encounter trolls quite a bit,
but I actually wanted to note that
it's not always so much trolls that I encounter,
but actually people who genuinely think
that they know better than I do
when it comes to my thoughts, feelings, opinions,
experiences around disability.
More often than not it's really not trolls
that are the problem.
Of course there are people who troll me,
and it's difficult to hear,
you know, for example,
I speak some days advocating
for something connected to receiving Social Security
Disability benefits.
And when you know something like that is at risk,
or when you know that Medicaid is at risk.
I get tweets from people saying,
"Oh, so you have to earn your keep now,
that's why you're upset."
And that's a really difficult thing to hear,
but I decided that
I try to meet people with facts and not with anger,
and that seems to be the best way to head off trolls.
Because trolls are looking to get a rise out of you,
and when they don't
and they see that you're providing better responses,
that often defeats the purpose of
what they were trying to do in the first place.
I try to take the higher road there.
But it's more difficult when it's people
who genuinely have no respect for the fact
that I am a disabled person,
and my opinions may not always be
bright and sunny, and warm and fuzzy
hence the inspiration narrative of disability.
And I've been called bitter,
I've been told that I'm wrong for how I identify myself.
I say disabled woman.
I've been told that I don't know what I'm talking about,
that my research or my facts are incorrect,
or even just that my opinion is wrong.
And so, in that case I try to
not just to meet people with facts,
but to meet people where they are
and to try to find a ground upon which
we can have a dialogue,
and hopefully I can ask them to broaden their perspective.
But if that doesn't happen,
then the best thing to do is to just
know when to disengage and take care of yourself.
My ultimate goal is to change one mind at a time,
and if I'm not going to change your mind today,
then, you know,
there's somebody else's mind out there
that needs changing when it comes to their perspective
on disability so,
you have to know when to let go
and take care of yourself, ultimately.
JORDAN: Great.
So now we're going to turn our attention to Vanessa.
Vanessa has not made a film with us yet.
I say "yet," Vanessa,
but you have worked on other really important projects.
I'm going to ask you a little bit about
the work you've been doing on discussion guides
and feature films that we put out.
VANESSA: Right so, um,
one of my biggest projects that I'm working on,
as Jordan mentioned,
is the discussion guides
for two of our documentaries:
"On The Outs" and "The Right to be Rescued."
And that is basically -
- providing viewers with
some more information
to promote discussion after they see the film
and it re-interprets the work
to make it more relevant
even after the films have been shown
and viewed a few times.
Since there's some written questions and talks about it
people continue to think about it
and discuss it.
JORDAN: Can you tell us a little about
the two projects you're working on,
what the films are about?
VANESSA: So "The Right To Be Rescued"
is about how,
during Hurricane Katrina, mainly,
many people with disabilities
were left behind, and were not rescued.
It describes the importance of
including disabled people
in evacuation plans for disasters.
Natural disasters,
mainly hurricanes,
because Hurricane Katrina was the focus of the film,
but it also needs to happen for other natural disasters
and in any evacuation.
In the disaster plan, disabled people need to be included.
And "On The Outs" is a documentary
that followed three inmates with disabilities
and their process, their re-entry process
back into society.
And how successful, or in their case,
not successful the process was,
and how it's affected the re-entry,
how the re-entry process is influenced
by whether or not someone has a disability.
JORDAN: Great.
Well, we have some time leftover now,
so we're going to throw it out to you,
if you have some questions or comments.
Rachel is going to be around with the mic,
please wait for the microphone
before you start your question.
So who's first,
who has a question?
Somebody right here.
AUDIENCE MEMBER 1: Hi.
I had a question for Courtney about the audio description.
Do you think that that would ever be implemented
in movie theaters and things where major films are playing?
Just anywhere, there's not usually captions
on films that are in major theaters
or major motion films?
Do you think that could be something
that could happen in the future
that would be important?
CUQUIS: Sorry, can you repeat?
Oh, is this for Courtney or Cuquis?
JORDAN: That's for Courtney.
[laughter]
COURTNEY: So I know that it depends on where you are, right?
Some theaters have the option to have audio description,
they have a track, you can have your own headphones,
and it will play just for you during the film.
But like I said, when I think about audio description,
I want to implement it in the most natural way.
And I hope that, eventually,
that it will just be a part of all media.
So that everyone can experience it together
at the same time, without having to have
a set of headphones or separate you
from the other people
that you're experiencing the media with, right?
Because, really, when you're watching a film or a video,
you're watching it with other people a lot of the time.
You want to be a part of that experience, not be separate.
So, I know that there's an option,
it's starting to be more available in movie theaters,
and I hope that eventually it's just a given.
And that's how films are watched by everyone.
JORDAN: If I'm not mistaken,
exhibitors and movie theaters are now required
to provide that service if the film
comes with audio description.
What we're missing right now,
and correct me if I'm wrong,
the content producers themselves are not required
to create it.
So you can use it if they have it,
but the film studios, etc, etc,
may not be producing it in the first place.
So that's something that we need to work on.
Back there, there's a question?
AUDIENCE MEMBER 2: Hi, I actually have two questions.
The first one is:
does anybody know if there are bills in Washington right now
that we can learn about and support
that support disability rights?
JORDAN: Uh, yes.
AUDIENCE MEMBER 2: Both questions!
[Jordan laughs]
JORDAN: Well, let me start by saying,
if you want to get involved in disability rights,
you can do so today right next door.
Disability Rights Washington
is working on a campaign to close down
the Rainer School, which is
a developmental disability institution in Washington State.
If you have been watching any of the local news,
you know about the neglect and abuse
that have been going on there for years and years
and years and years.
And we think it's time for it to change,
so if you want to get involved today,
you can do that right now,
and have an effect right here in Washington State.
On the federal level, there's a ton.
Up first is something we're just working on.
There's a bill that's in the House right now,
I don't remember the long title of it,
the number is 4547,
and that has to do with regulations of Social Security
representative payees, which are individuals
that manage benefits for people
who that can't manage money on their own.
This is another system rife with abuse,
and this bill will hopefully provide more oversight,
by giving that oversight ability to organizations
like Disability Rights Washington,
so that's a good one.
There's also bills to keep an eye on for the other reason.
HR 620, is that the number?
HR 620 is a bill that is being advanced
that would water down and destroy certain protections
from the ADA,
basically creating even more barriers
to make buildings accessible and
other important accommodations.
So we want to stop that one.
I think D.C. is a little distracted at the moment,
but they will get back to it eventually,
and we need to be prepared for it.
And then the last one I'll mention,
particularly close to my heart,
is something called the Time Act,
in the House of Representatives,
and that Act would eliminate sub-minimum wage completely,
and there's another one in the Senate
called Raise the Wage,
which would raise the minimum wage for everybody
and then finally phase out sub-minimum wage.
I saw Clark's hand about to go up,
and he's going to remind me of one or two.
CLARK: Disability Integration Act.
JORDAN: And then the most important one
is the Disability Integration Act.
Which is the missing piece of the ADA,
and that would basically codify in law
the ability for people with disabilities
to live where they want to live,
not be forced into institutions,
and a range of other protections
that are theoretically available
by virtue of a Supreme Court decision
but are not actually implemented,
and we run into it all the time.
So that's a handful.
We can talk about it more afterwards,
we'll all be here.
EMILY: Can I just jump in here super quick?
JORDAN: Sure. EMILY: I just wanted to
let everybody know that,
and I apologize for the lighting
the sun is setting outside my house.
I'm three hours later than you.
But in terms of understanding
the human impact of a lot of what's going on right now,
that's where the Rooted in Rights blog
can really come in handy.
I'd highly recommend having a look through,
as much as you can, to understand.
We're not just talking about qualitative
or statistical information here,
we're talking about the millions
of lives that are going to be impacted
by some of this legislation.
So that's a great resource to get a better grasp
on some of what's going on right now.
JORDAN: Who has the mic?
Over here?
AUDIENCE MEMBER 3: I realize this may sound trivial
compared to some of the things we've been talking about.
Obviously, since I'm speaking,
I don't think it is.
I'm wondering if there's any way
that you can help bring to attention
the fact that the film that's coming out,
called "He Won't Get Far on Foot,"
about the writer and cartoonist John Callahan.
The subject of that film
is gonna be portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix,
who of course does not have a disability.
And meanwhile, in Hollywood,
there are tons of actors who do have disabilities
and could perfectly well play that role.
So, I don't know what anyone else is doing,
I'm making plans to picket the damn movie.
[audience murmuring]
JORDAN: Anybody want to react to that one?
You guys know about that film?
EMILY: Well, I would love to say that if you are interested,
if writing is your thing, or if you know somebody
who shared your views, and writing is their thing,
let's write about it.
I know that one blog post is not going to spark
systemic change, necessarily,
but I think that the more that we talk
about the issues of representation,
and we have had that on the blog before,
and breakdown why it's so important
to have disabled people representing ourselves
in film and television,
the more that we get media like that out there,
the better chance we have of seeing the tides turn.
And so the best way to fight back
is to put your opinion out there.
Not just by picketing in front of one particular theater,
although that's a huge -
- move forward in the right direction,
but also to articulate these thoughts
to get other people to come over
and understand what it is that we're talking about.
And so, that's an issue
that I personally value very deeply
and know that a lot of
my colleagues feel similarly
where we'd love to have that perspective shared
on our committee for sure.
COURTNEY: I just want to just mention something real quick,
I do remember that Alice Wong
recently wrote a fantastic piece
on this particular issue as a whole,
not just about that specific film,
but it has been a problem for a long, long time
and I would encourage it.
Another thing that you can do is a simple share
of content that we have on our Facebook page
that talks about that issue.
Because when you share that,
it shares with your entire network of friends
on social media and someone else might share it
and actually cause the chain reaction
of sharing that information
and getting that issue out there.
JORDAN: I think the statistic is for all
the disabled characters portrayed in film
and television, two percent are portrayed
by actors with a disability.
So this is,
so far out of whack.
And very few people are paying attention to it
but Alice and others are talking about it now.
It's really important.
ATTENDEE 3: We wouldn't accept
a white actor portraying a black person,
so why do we accept this?
JORDAN: Other questions?
Here's someone up front.
And this is our last question for today
and then we'll of course be in the room
to chat with you afterwards.
AUDIENCE MEMBER 4: Well, hi,
thank you for a great presentation.
This is addressed to Vanessa
on the comments you made about the
work to defend the rights of people with disabilities
beating the prison system.
Could you expand on that a little bit?
VANESSA: I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that.
Something about the -
- the prison system and people with disabilities?
AUDIENCE MEMBER 4: Yes, if you would just
say a little more about that.
You referred to it, but I would be interested to know
what, how-how it is [inaudible]
- in what, who-who you're targeting in the system?
VANESSA: So -
- my job is to make the discussion guides
that provides length to -
- to really just kind of summarize some of the information.
So, from what I got from the documentary,
is that -
- people with disabilities are not treated
very well at all
in institutions,
in correctional institutions.
Specifically there was,
one of the inmates that we call "Kara"
had a hip - knee replacement I believe, right?
- and hadn't received any physical therapy at all
and another inmate was prone to -
- psychological episodes
and was often put in -
- isolation,
- that would,
- exacerbate his mental illness, which would make it worse.
And another man was blind
and would stay in a bunk on top -
- without a ladder, I think -
- and then they would turn the lights off
and he was just very lost and disoriented.
I think probably,
I'm not the best person to talk about this
because I just make the discussion guide,
but, does that help to answer your question?
AUDIENCE MEMBER 4: Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you.
JORDAN: Okay folks, so that concludes our presentation.
I want to encourage you to chat
with the folks here, who are here today.
Please sign up for our e-mail list
or follow us on social media.
We're @RootedInRights on Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram.
You can find us on the web at RootedInRights.org.
Please visit the table in the other room
to take action today.
And I really want to thank Seattle Womxn Marching Forward
for the invitation to be here today
and it was an incredible pleasure of mine
to introduce you to some of the fine women
I work with every single day.
Thank you very much.
[audience applauding]
AUDIENCE MEMBER 5: Anyone here not registered to vote,
or needs their voter information updated,
our table's outside.
[murmuring]
HOST: Thank you.
Okay so the next thing that we're going to be doing
is actually -