CinemAbility Trailer

From the early days of silent films to present day, from Chaplin to X-Men, disability portrayals are ever changing. This dynamic documentary takes a detailed look at the evolution of “disability” in entertainment to see if an enlightened viewpoint can have a positive impact on the world.

When you can see someone that has the same jersey
that you have on, you know, you root for that team.

JANE SEYMOUR: From the early days of silent films to present day...

from Chaplin to "X-Men," disability portrayals are ever-changing.

There's virtually no people with disabilities present,

you know, in the kind of fabric
of the entertainment world.

And that wallpaper is really our collective social wallpaper, right? It's how we see ourselves.

If society got its ideas
about people with disabilities from TV,

they would think that basically,
we're either pathetic or super-people.

There's no denying that people are influenced by what they see in media.

Images are so impactful that we can... we can overcome social barriers through media.

I've worked so hard to do all these mainstream projects so that I wouldn't be pigeonholed.

I said, "Here I am, getting in this accident;
now I'm black all over again!"

"Here we go, gotta start from scratch,
'cause everybody gonna look down on us."

"Here I go, grinding again!"

TAYLOR HACKFORD: To be able to have those instances where you have somebody onscreen

who is quote "disabled" but who is in charge of their life or discovering their life

or in control, or you know, actually learns
how to deal with life

is an image that I hope we have more of now
than we ever had before.

Did you hear what I said, Forrest?

You're the same as everybody else.
You are no different.

I think God made me the way I am for a reason.

Different, not less.

I may speak differently,
but it doesn't mean I'm different than you.

I want to show you what I can do.

Roll camera, please.

I think we want to get to this point in the world where it's what you do that counts.

It's what you can accomplish that counts,

and we're not so concerned
with how you look or how you get there.

Hollywood is always at the forefront,
in my mind, of causes,

from acknowledging race relations and antisemitism and all of those kinds of things

to acknowledging the same kind of bigotry that goes along with people with disabilities.

It's not just for me.
It's not just for people with wheelchairs.

It's for people that's deaf.
It's for people that's amputees.

It's everybody.
Get on board!

SEYMOUR: This star-studded documentary will showcase how media can transform our society,

how film-making has changed over the decades,
and most importantly,

how an enlightened understanding of disability can have a positive impact on the world around us.