We all like to see someone like us or better, someone we’d like to be, on screen. We do like a hero or 3 and watching people do stuff that is beyond our neighbourhoods. So here goes, we are just serving up some suggestions for you to try amongst your fam, friends and flavoured popcorn.
Yeah, we really worry about inspiration porn too, and we worry about datedness, but sometimes our kids just don’t let that get in the way of their preferences at all.
Some for you to try:
We’ve gone cultured for the first bunch all award winners and compiled by the Lucille Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. Stanford USA.
Darius Goes West
(2007, documentary, 1 hr, 32 min) introduces Darius Weems, a teen who lives with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. With a group of his friends, he takes a road trip from Athens, Georgia, to Los Angeles to fundraise to find a cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. He is on a mission to ask MTV to customize his wheelchair on its show Pimp My Ride. The film boasts 14 awards.
Image Source: Amazon
My Flesh and Blood
(2003, documentary, 1 hr, 23 min) follows a year in the life of the extraordinary Tom family. Susan Tom, a single mother adopted 11 children with challenging disabilities or conditions. The family includes two girls with congenital amputation, a boy with epidermolysis bullosa, and a girl who was severely burned as a baby. The film has 8 awards to its name. Watch the trailer.
Image source: Wikipedia
Sound and Fury
(2000, documentary, 1 hr, 30 min) a documentary on members of the Artinian family, some living with deafness. The film follows the decision-making of two families over the choices for their children around hearing aids. Technology that would help them hear, but also the compromise their deaf identity and their culture. The film received 5 awards and was nominated for 5 awards including an Academy Award for best documentary feature. Watch the trailer.
Image source: Wikipedia
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
(1993, drama, 1 hr, 57 min) Gilbert Grape, (played by Johnny Depp) struggles to care for his mother and his brother living with intellectual disability (played by Leonardo DiCaprio). At the age of 19, DiCaprio received his first Academy Award nomination for his performance in this role. The film boasts 8 awards and 7 nominations.
Image source: IMDB
The Black Balloon
2008 Australia. The film was inspired by Director Elissa Down’s childhood growing up with two brothers with autism. The film depicts the relationship between Thomas Mollison (Rhys Wakefield) and his autistic brother, Charlie (Luke Ford). Their mother, Maggie (Toni Collette) struggles to cope, particularly as the emotional gulf between her sons widens and fiery tensions set in. This Australian drama won six Australian Film Institute Awards, including Best Picture, screenplay and director.
Image source: IMBD
And if you are a streamer, Disability Horizons have 8 Netflix original shows and films with disabled actors and characters you might like to scroll through and see what suits your viewing style.
