Together For Autism Videos Honoured By Russian Film Festival
In November 2006, Together For Autism Video Director, Jeff Dobbin was invited to Moscow to attend the Breaking Barriers Film Festival on Disability. Several of Jeff's productions were screened at the film festival including Autism Ontario's "My Friend Dylan".
We asked Jeff to comment on his experience. "Reactions to My Friend Dylan were very positive. Many people commented that it was inspiring to see Dylan so well accepted by her peers and that it all seemed so natural. For others it was difficult to imagine any child with a disability participating in a classroom with non-disabled students.
Events like this are invaluable in developing democracies like Russia as they demonstrate what is possible for people living with disabilities. While the Russian society has experienced a great deal of change in a very short period of time, individuals with developmental disabilities and their families have had little benefit. While there are signs of change, currently many children and adults remain in institutions and are removed from their families and communities.
"Breaking Barriers" is an event that challenges the values of the disability community in Russia and is hopefully a catalyst for change. Personally I was encouraged to be reminded of how far we've come in such a short period of time. It wasn't all that long ago that we admitted most people with developmental disabilities in to institutions (in fact several hundred people still remain in institutions in Ontario).
It also was a reminder of how far we still have to go before every person, with and without disabilities have a valued place in our community."
Picture Caption - Video Director Jeff Dobbin (gray shirt centre left) with participants of the Breaking Barriers Film Festival in Moscow (November 2006)
Together for Autism would like to thank Jeff Dobbin, director and producer of these videos, for making the submissions. For more information about Jeff and his work, visit www.parashoot.ca