Day Williams Al-Mohamed

Many American with free time nowadays may find themselves perusing You-Tube.  Although I cannot say that this is one of my favourite sites (it can be difficult to navigate), on occassion I have found some great video clips.  The clips below are some great videos that offer striking examples of how effective and influential video can be on  the perception of disability.

 The following link is to U.S. teenager, Benjamin Snow’s brilliant short film about Hollywood’s obsession with portraying characters with a disability in a patronising and pitiful way.

Thumbs Down to Pity – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BszOnGFC9E4

Unfortunately, although this video is one of my favourites, without the video description or a friend who’s willing to tell you some of the great visuals, you might miss out on some of the clips from famous films that Benjamin uses to illustrate his point.

Next is a two-part video called ‘Talk’ from the U.K. Human Rights Commission.  It is an award-winning piece that portrays a society in which non-disabled people are a pitied minority and disabled people lead full and active lives. Jonathan Kerrigan, of BBC’s ‘Casualty’ fame, plays a business executive whose negative preconceptions of disability are dramatically shattered.  I thought it profoundly amusing and a quite striking illustration of what the world would be like in a ”role reversal.” 

Part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZfOVNwjFU0

Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9a2ZqLhuAw

It is also available on You-Tube in subtitled and signed format.  Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find an audio described version as yet, however it is understandable (or at least I could follow it).

I hope at some point to be able to include descriptions to go with the videos.