Archives for July 2012

ReelAbilities: Using Film to Change Perceptions and Realities

July 15, 2012

By Joan Leotta

Action. Adventure. Romance. Success against all odds. These are some of the draws of a good movie. Compelling movies make viewers think, invite conversation or debate, and can even change minds and hearts. With all of this in mind, some New York City cinema devotees decided to establish a traveling film festival highlighting stories and inspirations of people with disabilities from around the world.

The “largest festival in the country dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of…people with different disabilities,” the ReelAbilities Film Festival offers post-screening discussions that encourage viewers to, according to the Festival’s mission statement, “explore, discuss, embrace, and celebrate the diversity of our shared human experience.” This chance to consider the insights and possibilities presented in the films helps to reinforce positive images of people with disabilities in society.

Development of the Festival

“Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark corners of our souls.”
Ingmar Bergman

The ReelAbilities Film Festival began as an offshoot of projects at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. Festival Director Isaac Zablocki says, “We use film to create change here at the Center. I was getting some fabulous films on disabilities.” Anita Altman, founder of the UJA (United Jewish Appeal) Federation’s Task Force on People with Disabilities, had connections in the disability community. “She really made [the Festival] happen,” says Zablocki.

Together with Altman, Zablocki was able to present the first screenings in September 2008 in New York. The founding vision contained the elements that still define the Festival: Powerful international films, multiple venues in a host city, and lively discussions to follow each showing.

Zablocki notes that “although the Festival is headquartered in the JCC in Manhattan, it is not a Jewish festival.” Rather, the event spotlights “films from all over the world centered on people with disabilities.” This year’s New York films included such diverse offerings as:

Run If You Can, a German story of friendship and love among Ben, a wheelchair user; Christian, his caretaker; and Annika, who cannot decide between the two France’s
The Straight Line, about a young runner whose emerging blindness does not prevent him from finding love and athletic success
Defining Beauty: Ms Wheelchair America, a tale of the paths five women take to the Ms. Wheelchair America pageant
Mabul (“The Flood”), produced in Israel, a coming-of-age drama about a family whose eldest son, an autistic, returns from spending years in an institution

The 2012 New York festival featured 16 films shown at 23 different venues across the New York area, reaching over 6,000 viewers. Other cities to feature ReelAbilities Film Festivals include Atlanta, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Washington, DC. More than 65 groups partnered to support the New York Festival, with funding for the traveling programs coming from the Saul B. Schottenstein Foundation. The Schottenstein contributes to the Festival because it “celebrates the oneness of humanity,” says Zablocki.

Choosing the best

Any form of art is a form of power; it has impact. It can affect change. It cannot only move us, it can make us move.
Ossie Davis

Zablocki notes that the selection criteria and structure of the festival have helped contribute to its success. “We want quality films that portray people with disabilities against stereotype,” he explains. Movies are selected by a committee that comprises both members on the Festival Board and people from disability communities. Ravit Turjeman, Festival Co-Director, says, “When we get a film that confronts an issue or deals with a disability where we do not have expertise on the committee that year, we reach out to that disability community for advice.” The committee attempts to present a variety of films, balancing offerings for length and for type of disability.

The Festival has had no trouble attracting high quality films from all over the world. About 200 were submitted to fill the 16 slots for the 2012 Festival. The films ranged in length from just a few minutes to full-length features of up to two hours. Many of these films had won awards in other festivals. “We do not require that a film premiere here,” says Zablocki, “but we do request that the distribution was somewhat limited before entering it in our Festival.”

Measuring Success

Because Turjeman’s background includes marketing, programming, and film distribution, she knows the importance of making connections, both by promoting films among interested communities and through the face-to-face relationships established in the receptions held after the showings. For instance, because My Spectacular Theater, a feature from China, showcased the story of a blind person, the Festival team sent out information about the film throughout the local Asian-American community. Some other movies hold inherent widespread appeal, such as last year’s Warrior Champions about four Iraq War veterans who, after losing limbs and suffering paralysis fighting for their country in Iraq, set out to turn the nightmares of war into Olympic dreams.

“Does art reflect life? In movies, yes. Because more than any other art form, films have been a mirror held up to society’s porous face.”
Marjorie Rosen

Perhaps the most powerful connections that the Festival makes come through the discussion sessions that bring together audience members and, in many cases, the actors and artists behind the original films. Turjeman notes, “Our audience members might be employers or leaders in the community. After meeting the people who make the films, those who act in the films, and the people with disabilities who are at the show, their attitudes change and they are more willing to interact with people with disabilities and hopefully, to hire them.”

Festival coordinators also measure success with post-screening questionnaires. Turjeman explains, “We survey the audience after each screening and also collect and record anecdotal evidence and comments to determine the impact of the festival on those outside of the disability community and on people with disabilities.”

The survey asks audience members to rate the screening experience in three categories: the film itself, the discussion, and accessibility. The survey also asks whether the film viewing changed the audience member’s perception of people with disabilities. The figures for this year’s New York Festival reveal that 96 percent of the audience members indicated that the festival helped influence their perceptions of people with disabilities. The Festival achieved a score of 4.6 (out of 5) for quality of discussions and for accessibility.

Turjeman indicates that, “so far the results show that perceptions are being changed in our/the community.” These positive perceptions are spreading widely. As a result of the Festival, “people with disabilities are enjoying an improved self image,” she continues. “Our results show that they are being filled with pride and that the Festival reinforces the idea that they have no limits.”

The recent New York Festival offered tangible proof of that positive spirit. “The last showing in New York fell on Valentine’s Day, so we held a dance after the screening,” says Turjeman. “During the dance a woman came up to Ariana Cohen-Halberstam, Festival Program Associate and asked if she had a camera. The woman wanted to take a picture of her 18-year-old daughter who was out on the floor, dancing. She told us, ‘My daughter has never danced with a boy before!’”

ReelAbilities does not offer awards to the films that enter. “We feel that the selection is honor enough,” says Zablocki. “In the four years it’s been held, the Festival has grown into one of our proudest achievements.”

Accessibility

Ever since the beginning, Festival organizers of course recognized the importance of making the Festival accessible to any and all attendees. Each venue guarantees wheelchair accessibility and captioning for all films. ASL interpretation, CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation for the deaf), Live Audio Description, and information in Braille are all available upon advance request. In addition, the Festival committee works hard to select Festival dates that can provide accessibility in any kind of weather while avoiding other major film festival dates. The 2013 New York Festival is set for March 12-17.

Accessible Gaming: More Than Fun

July 1, 2012

By Joan Leotta

You’re running from one town to the next, but your food and water supplies are low. You hope to see a friendly face, because you’ll need some help soon. You spot someone in the distance when all of a sudden you realize — Oh, no! It’s an orc! And you die. Luckily, if you spend some gold and wait some time, you’ll come alive again.

This may not sound like your reality, but perhaps like a fun and immersive video game. However, like many other aspects of daily life, some video games are unavailable to many people because of their disabilities. One organization, the AbleGamers Foundation is looking to change all that by giving equipment to disabled gamers in need; promoting games that encourage mental, social and physical development; providing reviews of video games that highlight accessibility features, and making noise in the gaming world about the need to make video games available to all.

AbleGamers’ ongoing grants program provides equipment and funding that gives severely disabled individuals access to previously inaccessible gaming experiences. Steve Spohn, Editor-in-Chief of AbleGamers, notes that by doing so, the Foundation can translate gaming assistance into life improvements for people with disabilities.

“For example, someone who is in a facility, VA Hospital, or homebound with no possibility of going out into the world to socialize with others and unable to use traditional gaming peripherals, such as an Xbox controller, by being introduced to assistant technology will be able to play videogames in a multiplayer environment,” he says. “This means that person’s life is instantly transformed by the possibility of making friends, strangers to interact with, and even responsibilities in game worlds that have an impact on others.”

AbleGamers Foundation statistics show that more than half of the 6o million people with disabilities in the United States use videogames to increase the quality of their lives and make friends. According to David Morrison, a gamer, disability blogger, and columnist with the Wilmington, NC, Star News, “Accessible gaming offers people with disabilities a common activity that can increase social and fine motor skills while having fun at the same time.”

Like all forms of play, gaming can prepare one for real life. Sarah Giese, a game writer with a degree in communications, says, “Nearly all videogames stimulate mental development to some degree, whether it is critical thinking and decision making or improving the eye’s tracking skills.” She adds that gaming is being used more and more to teach, citing the fact that the U.S. Army has developed several games used for training recruits and psychiatrists are also using games to for help returning soldiers recover from PTSD.

Able Gamers Foundation provides a free database of mainstream game titles with reviews aimed at accessibility. The Foundation also works to raise awareness of the value of gaming by encouraging disabled returning war veterans how video gaming can reconnect them with friends.

Giese further notes that gaming forums “create a unique and complex subculture” that brings all kind of gamers together. In these forums, “disabled persons can interact freely with other gamers who are disabled and with those who aren’t,” she states.

Transition from play to real life

Some videogames provide a safe environment to assist people with disabilities manage new routines. For example, Spohn says, “Videogames can teach life skills and give people a way to practice daily activities without the risks associated with the activity. For example, one company called VTree makes virtual world games were you can practice crossing the street, interacting in an apartment or living on your own. This is particularly useful for those in the autism community that would like practice or to learn life skills that are vital to being independent.”

Not only are games like VTree now being designed that are specifically aimed at people with disabilities, but there are also a growing number of cell phone and table apps (see below). While some are used as games, others are more overt learning, teaching, or scheduling tools. Just-for-fun games now being marketed to disability communities include In the Pit for people with visual impairments.

Accessibility and choice of platforms

However, the most desirable aspect of gaming for many is the opportunity to play in a MMP (massively multiplayer) universe, or at the very least, to play the same games that are popular to everyone. That is why AbleGamers maintains a broad database of games and their accessibility statistics. While some games are easy to use for the mobility-impaired, for example, others might not have captioning for the deaf. Giese notes that “it depends upon which the type of disability that the game is designed to work best with.”

Of course, not all game adaptations are the same. The gaming needs of someone who is colorblind differ from those of someone with fine motor impairments. Spohn explains, “Disabled gamers have varying degrees of need for options to help them game. Some people only need the ability to change what button does what action, what color objects are, or the ability to read the audio elements of the game. Other gamers need more help in the way of advanced options such as slowing the entire game down for those with dexterity, precision or cognitive issues.”

Because AbleGamers assists in providing technology to would-be gamers, the Foundation has become expert on the pros and cons of various gaming equipment. Spohn says that “the PC is more accessible than any console because of the availability of peripherals on the computer.” Consoles do not have the same flexibility as a personal computer when it comes to the addition of assistive technology.

Of the various console options, Morrison says, “It is up to the consumer to find what works for them.” He likes Wii and Xbox because to him, they are “the best in terms of accessible platforms with a relatively easy user interface and online gaming.”

Gaming is not the only way that technology is reaching into the disability community to make life easier. An area where technology is making conscious efforts to make life activities easier for people with disabilities, often with game like fun, is in the area of applications for mobile phone and tablet devices. These “apps” as they are called are often directed toward specific disabilities.

The number of apps for smart phones and tablets is multiplying exponentially. Many well-known apps are games, but more and more are being developed to directly help people with special needs. For example, during Autism Awareness Month (April), makers of the Nook tablet advertised a wide variety of social applications that can improve interpersonal interaction for people with autism.

Increasing Accessibility on the Internet

Raymond Sonoff, proprietor of Sonoff Consulting Services, has consulted at Verizon Communications and many other clients to make the Web more accessible. Sonoff notes that making games—and all websites—more accessible is primarily a matter of FUN. In his acronym, “F” stands for functional, meaning that everything on the website works—no broken links. “U” stands for useable: that the site actually does perform all of its intended functionalities in a straightforward manner, and it is laid out logically. “N,” stands fornavigable and indicates ease of getting around including, on a game, finding the buttons to make plays and conveniently selecting paying options.

Morrison notes that what is accessible to one person may not be accessible to another, but that ”the bottom line is that gaming is meant to be fun. It may take time to find something that is right for you but once you do, settle in and let the games begin!”

Find AbleGamers online…so you’ll be able to game!

The AbleGamers Foundation gives equipment to disabled gamers in need; promotes games that encourage mental, social and physical development; provides reviews of video games that highlight accessibility features, and makes noise in the gaming world about the need to make video games available to all.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recognized the work of AbleGamers with an award on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The group operates three websites to fulfill its mission. The group also sponsors an Accessibility Arcade, where able-bodied and disabled gamers can play together.

These sites are:

The Game Accessibility database (www.gameaccessibility.org) provides reviews and information on adaptive game features.
The AbleGamers site (www.ablegamers.com) provides information for the gaming community.
The main page for the AbleGamers Foundation (www.ablegamers.org) has an area devoted to the Path to Games Accessibility Project (www.ablegamers.org/pathtoaccessibility.html) which puts together game-writing leaders, technology vendors, artists and testers to identify and state what can be done to enhance the ability of people with disabilities.

Edited by Mary-Louise Piner.