The Eyes Of Me Event in Chicago Overcomes Its Own Struggles With Accessibility

Carrie Kaufman moderates a panel discussion trapped inside a wheelchair lift

Carrie Kaufman is a board member of The Chicago Freedom School and was in the ITVS documentary Terra Incognita: Mapping Stem Cell Research, a Community Cinema and Independent Lens selection. She writes about our recent Community Cinema Chicago event for The Eyes Of Me.

Chicago’s February 20 screening of The Eyes of Me was held in the beautiful Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago cultural Center. The event was appropriately cosponsored by the Chicago Freedom School, a youth focused social justice organization, and Access Living, a disability rights organization.

The Eyes Of Me follows blind youth along their journey at a school for the blind in Austin, Texas. The film details their struggles in and out of that and other schools. The youth in the film have varying levels of visual impairments, and are all at different levels of acceptance and independence. The film doesn’t focus on their visual impairments beyond how it affects the living of their day-to-day life. It shows us about all of the other interests and outlets that each of the youth devote themselves to. The youth are inspirational not because they are living with a disability, but because they are intelligent, talented, and independent people.

The show must go on (while ITVS' Naomi Walker and event panel moderator, Carrie Kaufman, are stuck in the wheelchair lift - left)

Most of the close to 200 attendees stayed for a great discussion following the film. The discussion, however, got off to an ironic start, when I, the moderator, got trapped in the wheelchair lift on the way up to the stage with Naomi Walker, National Community Cinema Coordinator.  I remarked on how if the film showed us anything, it’s that it wasn’t necessary for me to see my panelists in order to carry on the discussion with them, so I moderated the first 20 minutes of the discussion about disability philosophy, politics, and accessibility in general from in the wheelchair lift. What a display of obstacles to access!

Find out if Naomi and Carrie ever get out of the lift!

We eventually got crowbarred out, and I’m sure the Cultural Center will be checking the lifts regularly from now on.  Panelists Jasmine Coates and Adam Ballard spoke beautifully about the question of segregated schools for youth with disabilities, getting accommodations in public schools, and disability identity in general.  Jasmine offered a student perspective and Adam brought the perspective of an organizer and former student.  We spoke about the importance of disability being embraced as a natural (normal, even!) part of human diversity. Our audience contributed to a rich discussion about whether or not public schools were obligated to provide accommodations, commonalities and differences of the disability experience, and struggles that all youth have with “the system.”

Carrie Kaufman (right) after being "sprung" from the wheelchair lift with a crowbar

When the discussion ended, many folks stuck around to continue the conversation, network, and share their appreciation for what was an enriching afternoon.

Tags: blind, chicago, disabilities, the eyes of me