This Saturday, July 13th, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will launch the “Disabilities, Representation, and Film” program to coincide with the Americans with Disabilities Act that was signed into law 34 years ago.
The Academy Museum’s director of education and programming, Christiana Ybarra, will organize the one-day event. It will include workshops, panel discussions, museum tours, film screenings centered on disability (including the documentary “Crip Camp”), and a live dance performance. The goal is to shed light and awareness on disability and representation in film.
“Becoming disabled can happen to anyone at any time. When we look at the statistics, one in four people are disabled in this country. It’s a huge demographic that doesn’t get a lot of attention,” said Ybarra in a statement to Variety. “You don’t see a lot of representation of folks with disabilities on screen. And so I think, as a film museum, it’s our duty to share those narratives.”
Film serves an essential role as a tool for education and social change. Ybarra emphasized that it can promote more empathy and compassion for marginalized groups. Her hope is that the program will help others to “learn more about what people are experiencing,” and creates a necessary push to make the Hollywood industry more inclusive.
For ticket information, please visit the Academy Museum’s official website.
Image Credit: Academy Museum on Instagram
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