I got home slightly before midnight, went to work in this morning, and saw the doctor this afternoon. So, you can expect me to be pretty tired. Nonetheless, I have to share how much fun it was participating in the Center for Disability Rights‘ Free Our People Film Festival in Rochester, New York on Tuesday!

In March, my sister, Ginny, and I wrote and produced a seven-minute film, (Crip)perelli Life 2: Home Is Where The Hat Is. The film is a sequel to (Crip)perelli Life, a story about a highschooler with spinal muscular atrophy that joins a Mafia family with similarly disabled people. In the sequel, the highschooler’s service dog racing ring gets busted by the cops, and, without a transition plan in place, he gets stuck living in a nursing home. Members of the Cripperelli family have to bust him out.

Although the movie is satirical, it tackles the important and oft-ignored subject of institutionalization.  In fact, it’s estimated that more than 200,000 non-elderly people currently reside in nursing homes. The Center for Disability Rights sought to bring attention to this topic by sponsoring the Film Festival. Ginny and I came in second place, and had the pleasure of attending the Film Festival in person.

In addition to watching the winning and third-place videos, the Center for Disability Rights showed a couple of other videos highlighting the terrible consequences of institutionalization. A filmmaker panel concluded the evening, as members of the audience got to ask questions about the films and other disability advocacy projects.

I was privileged to participate in the Film Festival, and encourage anyone reading this blog to check out each of the short films. You will laugh and definitely learn something.  Center for Disability Rights CEO Bruce Darling also committed to promoting a similar Film Festival next year, so keep visiting the website throughout the year if you want more information on how you can participate!