Deaf Teen Filmmakers Interpretation of Phillip Phillips’ “Home”

Acceptance, connection, and belonging. Home. Thank you Deaf Film Camp for making such awesome videos!

  • Image of group of students and Professor standing with arms crossed looking at the camera.Text reads: "Princeton University students Stand By Henry. We are inspired by you and your family. Thanks. The Spring 2015 Student from Seminar "A History of Disability as Told By Personal Narratives" taught by Professor Wurzburg Anschutz Distinguished Fellow in American Studies."

Now you know . You cannot unknow .

I  told  Professor Wurzburg's class in March and April  about my life and advocacy for inclusion, communication and civil rights. The class asked me questions and I answered. On April 8 I talked to the class on Skype. "This is good. Princeton thank you for this class. Learning about disability experience and discrimination from people who are disabled is the only real way.   I share my experience to change my reality and the reality for my neurodivergent brothers and sisters. No person should experience the abuse. All people deserve respect, inclusion and communication.   Now you know . You cannot unknow

  • A photograph of a woman wearing a purple shirt and khaki pants giving a speech on stage. TED in bold red letters , and "America's Finest City" is partially visible behind her. On a large screen behind her " Children with disabilities are among the world's most marginalized and excluded children." To the right there is a turqoise circle with white font "Ollibean Must Watch"/ Also in white font " Torrie Dunlap, CEO, Kids Included Together

Isn’t it a Pity? The Real Problem with Special Needs

The Real Problem with Special Needs We love this TEDx Talk from our friend, Torrie Dunlap, at Kids Included Together on benefits of inclusion and the real "problem" with special needs.   Isn’t it a Pity? The Real Problem with Special Needs Torrie Dunlap, CEO, Kids Included Together   Feeling Good about Casting Someone with Special Needs in the Show In the early 90s I was a student on this very campus, and actually, on this very stage. I was a drama major who had a dream to change the world through arts education. The world, however, had something different in

ALL Students Should Be Safe at School

I spoke at Hillsborough County School District's board meeting on September 9, 2014 to address safety concerns for students with disabilities after Tamya Johson, a nine year old student on the autism spectrum was left sleeping on her school bus. The day after this meeting, September 10, Hillsborough School Bus Crash sends 21 people to the hospital. Transcript Mrs Elia, Board members, I’ve come to speak to you today to offer my help and the community’s help to do whatever we need to do to ensure all students are safe in our schools. Being safe while at school is the

Pharrell’s “Happy” in Sign Language

Beautiful American Sign Language interpretation of Pharrell Williams's "Happy." An expression of music in ASL composed by Rosa Lee Timm and Azora Telford. The video was produced by a team of Deaf campers & staff from Deaf Film Camp 2014 at Camp Mark Seven. CAST Rosa Lee Timm Azora Telford -- Campers -- (coming soon) -- Teachers -- Bellamie Bachleda Braam Jordaan Bim Ajadi Sophia Ballester Tate Tullier Wayne Betts Jr -- Counselors -- (coming soon) -- Interpreter -- Drisana Levitzke-Gray EXECUTIVE PRODUCER (VIDEO) Convo VIDEO PRODUCER Stacy Lawrence Sophie Sok EDITOR Bim Ajadi CINEMATOGRAPHER/CO-EDITOR Wayne Betts, Jr. VISUAL

Get Your Happy On

Love this video by Tina and Paul Sirimarco. Tina is an ASL interpreter and has been teaching her husband to sign. The videos they have created are so free spirited and joyful that they're really fun to watch. About Paul and Tina : Yup, it's official. They're adorable. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" is just as much fun to watch.

  • Green rectangle with boy in profile. Boy has olive skin and brown hair and is wearing a hearing aid and white tshirt with orange sleeves. Dark green text " Accessibility is a right not a privilege." Ollibean

Accessibility Is a Right Not a Privilege

Accessibility is a right not a privilege. 20 posts on Accessibility, Universal Design, and Inclusion   It's Time to Go Beyond Access Creating Equal Opportunities For ALL Students to Participate in School Athletics State Obligations UNESCO Accessible Instructional Materials (AIM) Inclusion Is A Right Not A Privilege Paula Kluth on The Inclusive Class Roundtable The National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials Why Would We Want Inclusive Education? Ollibean Spotlight: Kerima Cevik Pay It Forward Activist How AAC and assistive tech make classrooms better for all : Paula Kluth The Case for Inclusion Part 3: Sea Change Access to the

  • Photograph of Jillian Mercado . She has light brown skin , platinum hair and is smiling. She's wearing a black shirt. There is an exposed brick wall in the background with a pink circle with Ollibean Must Watch written inside. Dark blue script. "it’s really boring to see the same people. So if you’re different that’s sunlight in somebody’s world. " Jillian Mercado.

What’s Underneath – Jillian Mercado

Jillian Mercado, the 23 year old model and editor and founder of Manufactured 1987 is featured in  StyleLikeU 's "What's Underneath Project". The "What's Underneath Project" has select individuals remove their clothes to honor how style is not the clothes you wear, but rather, what's underneath. Transcript Off camera. StyleLikeU: So you should just talk very freely, don’t edit. Just, you know, we’ll edit and just let yourself just roll. You’ll, whoever ask the question you can talk to. At the end of each question you’ll just take a piece of clothing off. Jillian Mercado Voice: Ok, I have one,

  • "Why would I want to grow out of my skin? Of my veins ? Because they grew so well with me. Jamie Sanders

I have Tourette’s. Please tell everyone.

This powerful performance by Jamie Sanders, spoken word poet and actor with Tourette's, covers bullying, shame, self-acceptance and empowerment in the best 150 seconds you'll watch this week.

  • Photograph of Stella Young on the Ted Stage. Text reads- I'm not your inspiration, thank you very much. Stella Young. Ollibean Change Leader

Why The Lie We’ve Been Sold About Disability Is The Greatest Injustice

Stella Young of Ramp Up explains the Social Model of Disability, Inspiration Porn, and the lie we've been sold about disability in this nine minute TED Talk. Stella Young Transcript I grew up in a very small country town in Victoria. I had a very normal, low key kind of upbringing. I went to school, I hung out with my friends, I fought with my younger sisters. It was all very normal. And when I was 15, a member of my local community approached my parents and wanted to nominate me for a "Community Achievement Award". And my parents

The Importance of Opportunity

Dillan Barmache, a 14 year old autistic student, delivers his powerful 8th grade commencement speech using his iPad and brings the crowd to their feet.

  • How can you feel like you belong in your community if you don't feel you belong in your own neighborhood school, which is the hub of the community? Advocate for inclusion. Dan Habib

Dan Habib: Disabling Segregation

Dan Habib's Tedx Talk on the importance of inclusion, belonging and disabling segregation. Habib is the creator of the award winning documentaries, Including Samuel, Who Cares About Kelsey, Restraint and Seclusion: Hear Our Stories, Thalia and other disability related subjects . Check out Dan's Tedx Talk on the benefits of inclusive education for students with and without disabilities.   Picture yourself back in your grade school classroom. I don't care if it's elementary school, middle school, high school. Just put yourself back there for a second. Look around the classroom. Do you see any kids with and without disabilities studying together

#DearFutureMom Video Spreads Awesome Message From People with Down Syndrome

by Emily Ladau Have you seen this #DearFutureMom Video? We love it here at Ollibean and in honor of World Down Syndrome Day, we think it's definitely worth a moment of your time to watch. It's a great reminder of why people of all abilities must work together to celebrate and advocate for the rights, inclusion and well being of people with Down syndrome today and every day - because we are all people just the same.  

  • Image description: Who Cares About Kelsey DVD Cover. Photograph of light skinned girl with brown hair wearing a black sweatshirt and jeans, leaning up against a locker, turned to the side face looking to her right. Students in the hall in the background. Text reads Failing grades + ADHD + Self mutilation + Abuse white equal sign with red slash indicating “not equal”. Dropout. Festival Awards listed on left side of screen. "Who Cares About Kelsey? a documentary by Dan Habib. Education Kit.

Who Cares About Kelsey? We do.

We first saw Who Cares About Kelsey ? at the National Center on Inclusive Education’s Summer Institute and instantly connected to the film's message of empowering students.

  • Image description. Hands holding up a white sign with pink text " I AM A STUDENT" Closed captioning text" I'm not the one who's lost with no direction, no"

I’m Not the One Who Is Lost

I am thinking you will understand more when you see the feeling . The feeling on my side.

  • Image description black and white photo of girl with long brown hair looking at the camera . blue text reads"BULLIED" and NOT in background. Upper right hand corner of image has green circle with with white text that reads "spread the word"

30 Second Message for Bullies

AAPD's PSA features three real students sharing a simple message: people with disabilities are powerful, self-determined individuals—not victims.

Judith Snow ~ Relationships & Inclusion

"The research shows that when a child who is not academically gifted is included in a regular school, not only do the academics improve across the school, and I did say that, I didn’t say “in the classroom”, I said “across the school”, not only do the academics improve, but drug use and violence goes down."

  • image description . Photograph of Maysoon Zayid, woman with long brown hair . She is smiling and wearing a black tank top. White text reads "MAYSOON ZAYID" . In upper right hand corner of image there is a turquoise circle with white text that reads "Must Watch"

I Got 99 Problems..Palsy Is Just One- Maysoon Zayid on Ted

“People with disabilities are the largest minority in the world and we are the most under-represented in entertainment.” Maysoon Zayid

Pro Infirmis Mannequins Video Shows Bodily Diversity is Beautiful

A trip to the mall bombards me with unattainable ideals of “perfection” everywhere I turn. Mannequins of one standard body shape and size taunt me in each store I enter, all of them wearing clothing that won’t look anything on me like it does on them. Their plastic bodies are tall and thin; I am less than 5 feet with more than my fair share of curves. They stand in casual poses; I am sitting in my wheelchair. To me, mannequins are not always inviting displays. Instead, they’re nothing more than sculptures of a supposedly idyllic body type that I

Worth A Second Look: Haben Girma’s 2010 Speech on 35th Anniversary of IDEA

"One of the treasures of IDEA is that it provides children with disabilities the luxury of just being students. Unfortunately there are still many school districts where students with disabilities are denied their right to an education." Haben Girma

  • Image description: Photograph of screenshot of C-SPAN a light skinned man with black hair. He is wearing glasses and a dark grey suit, light shirt and maroon tie. Ari Ne'eman Autistic Self Advocacy Network

The Importance of Supports

"If we invested a mere one-tenth of the amount of money that we currently pour into causation into empowering Autistic people to communicate, that young man and hundreds of thousands more like him would be able to communicate their needs to us today. I am not here today to speak for every Autistic person – that’s impossible. What I am here for is to argue for every Autistic person to have the same opportunity to communicate that I have come to enjoy thanks to the support that I have been lucky enough to receive in my life." Ari Ne'eman

  • a teenage light skinned boy with freckles, wearing a black jacket, blue and white striped sweater, pink collared shirt is standing in front of large columns and steps that lead to the Lincoln Memorial

All the people saw my intelligence. No test first.

My family saw. I had hopeful times . Tracy invited me home to Vermont to learn . I went to ICI to learn. All the people saw my intelligence . No test first. It was very free. I never had many people understand. To wait. To listen. Not outside home. I did not want to go back to people unknowing. I read more words from typers watching my movie to feel community. Full presentation here

Inclusion, Communication and Civil Rights

"Learning is easy when the teacher knows you can learn. " Henry Frost

I Am Disabled and I Am Proud

‎"Polite society often tells us that we need to take the 'dis' out of disability, but maybe... just maybe, we should spend some time putting it back in. Take the "dis" out of disability and you remove the core of what has shaped my life. Disability puts the "D" in diversity, but in order to make that a real difference we've got to own that spot. It took me 35 years to respect and honor that truth. Others shouldn't have to wait that long..." Lawrence Carter-Long

Don’t Call Me Inspirational

"Disability is not something terrible that needs to be fixed, cured, or made to go away forever. It is a natural part of reality. We ask for acceptance as equal members of society." From the PSA "Your Daily Dosage of Inspiration" by Cheryl Green and Caitlin Wood.

  • .There’s none exempt from this disability community, and as a matter of fact we’re the cool community, because we accept everybody.” Keith Jones

Disability Activist Keith Jones on Community

"So let us remember that when we teach, when we educate, we make policy, we make decisions that we do it with a conscience and that we remember that we are leaving fingerprints on forever." Keith Jones

  • White rectangle with black text that reads Who cares about Kelsey ? Kelsey is written in red handwritten font.Who cares about Kelsey ?

Who Cares About Kelsey

Kelsey Carroll lived with homelessness, self-mutilation, abuse and ADHD.  She was a likely high school dropout — until she encountered an education revolution that’s about empowering, not overpowering, teens with emotional and behavioral disabilities. Kelsey’s story, a story of trying to be seen for her potential rather than her past behavior.

Rion Paige on X Factor

Rion Paige blew everyone away at the "X Factor" audition. This beautiful, charismatic 13 year old has an absolutely incredible voice and exudes such confidence and poise it’s hard to believe she ‘s only 13. Rion has arthogryposis multiplex congenta which causes joint contractures and vision loss. Rion spoke about her audition on the "X Factor", “Ever since I was little I‘d just try to find a way to get to a microphone, put it in between my knees and try to get it in my foot, put it in my mouth. But sometimes I just get really frustrated whenever

Judith Snow

Judith Snow, MA is a social innovator and an advocate for Inclusion – communities that welcome the participation of a wide diversity of people. Inclusion is an opportunity for EVERYONE!

Thank You, Ed Roberts

"And we’re going to develop leadership, that has a fundamental difference and that is, it's inclusive . It believes in people, and in our strengths together . And we are going to change our society. " Ed Roberts

Intersection of Law, Education and Civil Rights

As a deaf-blind student with very limited sight and hearing, Haben Girma '13 learned that you must be a self-advocate and come up with creative solutions to the problems you face. If that fails, she says, then the law can be a strong ally.

  • I fear that Hillsborough County School Board is standing on the wrong side of history.

Disabilty and Civil Rights: Standing On the Right Side of History

"If we were to go back to the 1960s and we were to talk to those leaders who were vehemently against desegregation, we would hear the conviction in their voices of them stating why they believe their decisions and what they were doing to those children were just. Just as I believe that some of you and some of the board members that have spoken believe that their decisions are just. But, I fear that the Hillsborough County School Board is standing on the wrong side of history."

Inclusion is a right not a privilege.

Inclusion is not only socially just, but research shows it improves academic outcomes for all students.

  • Teenager with brown skin and dark brown hair smiling and wearing a "got inclusion" t-shirt.

I Am Here To Make A Difference For My People

"I am here to make a difference for my people. I hope that you listen to what I have to say. I want people like you to stop judging me." Tres Whitlock

Stop Hurting Kids

Join the Stop Hurting Kids campaign to end restraint and seclusion abuse in schools.The easiest way to make a meaningful contribution is to take a stand.

Free Your Mind and the Rest Will Follow

Awesome ASL version of En Vogue's 'Free Your Mind'. "Before you can see me you've got to learn how to read me. Free your mind and the rest will follow."

ASL Video “I Knew You Were Trouble”

Great ASL translation of Taylor Swift's song!

  • Picture of a smiling woman with light brown hair in a pony tail,she is wearing a purple shirt with a black jacket. the text reads "It's the hardest thing to put up with."

No Limits: People With Cerebral Palsy v Condescending Tools

No Limits: People With Cerebral Palsy v Condescending Tools.

Shatter the Myths About Autism

"No Myths". Must see PSA by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network and the Dan Merino Foundation. Change the conversation about autism.

Get Schooled: Jack Black Rocks “Sensitive”

AUTISM IS AWESOMISM . LOVE this video performed by the incredible Wyatt Isaacs (Autism the Musical), Jack Black, Stephen Stills from the Miracle Project Benefit.

Ollibean Talks to Ray Ellis, director of “Certain Proof: A Question of Worth”

"All of these children have one thing in common. They were always having to prove themselves, over and over and over again." Ray Ellis

My Valentine by Paul McCartney- Featuring Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp

Paul McCartney Directs His Own 'My Valentine' Videos Featuring Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp using ASL.

  • 479CziJHTFo

World Down Syndrome Day March 21!

Down Syndrome International presents the Global Video Event "LET US IN - I WANT TO LEARN!" in partnership with 68 countries for World Down Syndrome Day 2012.

The Loud Hands Project

Love this video published by the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Share it, Post it, Donate at http://www.indiegogo.com/The-Loud-Hands-Project?a=351448 so they will make more:)

  • Image description: photograph of young girl with blond hair and light skin, She is using American Sign Language. In the background a large white rectangular sign reads D-PAN, Deaf Professional Arts Network. Closed Captioning in Yellow at bottom of image reads" We're Going To Be Friends , " by the White Stripes.

D-PAN ASL Music Video “We’re Going To Be Friends” by the White Stripes

White Stripes "We're Going To Be Friends" ASL video we love by D-PAN.

Stories From The Road | Chapter One | “A Night With The Stars”

"A Night With The Stars": Larry, Tracy, Harvey & Pascal take to the road to promote a new documentary titled "Wretches & Jabberers" following their recent "World Intelligence Magnified Tour". Their first stop is Syracuse, NY where they meet with the Disability Cultural Center Initiative at Syracuse University and answer questions about the film.

Certain Proof – A Question of Worth

Certain Proof: A Question of Worth is a feature documentary about three children living with significant communication and physical disabilities, who struggle against the public schools in an emotional battle to prove their worth.

Go to Top