Location: Texas USA Posts: 6136 Joined: 2008-05-25
12/8/09
How did I miss this movie in 2007? What planet was I living on? http://www.youtub...M5uXgbg4QM
MGM- Music Within- Official Trailer! The US Government asked him to write the Americans with Disabilities Act.
This evening, I went to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and to get out of the house. While drinking my coffee, a couple of college-age fellows came and sat in the big, comfy, living-room type chairs to each side of me. I spoke with them, and then one got a cell-phone call, and stepped away from us. As I was talking with the one who was left, I told him that I'm finishing my Paralegal degree this week, that I have a Learning Disability, and that I might like to learn to do advocacy for people with disabilities. His eyes lit up and he told me, "There's a movie that you should see. It's called "The Music Within"". And he proceded to tell me that his cousin had written the movie script for this movie, and that it had been such a complex story, that it had taken him five years to write it. His cousin spent time with the 'real people' depicted in the movie, so that he could understand the story. The young man told me that the movie is about a man who had been studying speech, but then went to Viet Nam, got injured, and came back with a disability. Other soldiers would also come back, and were unable to get jobs due to their disabilities. So, they came to that first injured soldier, asking him to help them get jobs. Finally, the U.S. Government asked this man to write the Americans with Disabilities Act. Just as I was getting tears in my eyes, the other college-aged man came back to sit down, and asked, "What's going on?" I said, "He's making me cry." The second young man said, "Oh no!", and we all laughed. As they were saying Good-bye, the first young man reminded me to watch this movie.
Only the trailer is online, but I'm going to make sure to rent it as soon as I can. It looks like it has some great ideas for ways that we can 'build on' what's already been done for other people with 'visible' disabilites, although our challenge is to penetrate the darkness about our 'unseen' disability. When we make videos or start an Association, we'll have just as much to overcome as they did almost 30 years ago. - jus'
I think that the link I pasted up at the top of this post is the best one, but here are a few more, each a bit different. http://www.sho.co...0202635001
Very similar trailer to the one above. http://www.youtub...ature=fvwp
Music Within – an interview with the actor, Michael Sheen. http://www.youtub...k&NR=1
Michael Sheen, about practicing for his role as a person with Cerebral Palsy.
Edited by justfoundout on December 09 2009 03:25 PM
THANKS, 'jus, that was great to read about! Now I'm gonna go find that movie, too. It was good that I got to check out those clips because they help me understand where the actors were coming from as portraying the people.
I have worked with people with CP, spina bifida, etc. and there is this terrible stereotype yet about how if someone "looks different", particularly if their speech is affected, often the assumption is that they have a cognitive disability, which may or not be the case. And then, we have the issue in itself of using a default idea of a "look" as basis for comparison when that that in itself produces a bias.
kindly - two things for anyone -especially new readers coming into the forum - to remember or think about:
1- many people who are d/Deaf do not consider themselves to have a disability;
2- there is a controversy within "disability" community over having people who do not have the disability portrayed, or who do not have a disability, act in the role of someone who does. I can see both sides to that issue.
But 'jus, again, am glad to know about this and to see those scenes!
