ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on documentaries about or by disabled people. Because documentaries are a significant place of representation of the disability community; the chapter includes some of the powerful documentaries by nondisabled directors that illustrate the ableist society and barriers disabled people face. These documentaries about the disability community fit with disabled artist Riva Lehrer’s concept of “mirror hunger,” or desiring societal images that reflect disabled bodies and experiences. The chapter discusses the changes in video camera technology and later digital video tools that allowed everyone, including disabled people, to get behind the camera and shoot their own documentaries. The 1981 event, the International Year of Disabled Persons (IYDP), also shifted video content about disability into more empowering approaches. The IYDP led to a more collaborative approach between nondisabled directors and the disabled people in the documentaries. Disability Studies scholars David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder say documentary films about disability show audiences and disabled people themselves the possibility of an inclusive future. Disabled documentary filmmakers say their disabilities enhance their ability to do the collaborative work that making a film requires. Invalid Corps (2019) documentary director Day Al-Mohamed, who is blind, says disabled directors know how to adapt on set and how to accommodate the production team. The chapter details the new organization for D/deaf and disabled documentary creators, FWD-Doc, Documentary Filmmakers with Disabilities.
