“Disability”… we’ve little idea what this word means, as let’s face it, none of us can reasonably be defined by a sole term or category. We’re complex, multi-faceted creatures, us humans, constantly defying definition… indeed expectation.
Furthermore, all of us can guarantee that, at some point in our lives, we’ll be unable to do certain things… like get out of bed, walk to the shop, drive a car, get on a train. And the reasons for this inability, or perhaps should we say disability, could be many. We’re depressed, we’re injured, we’re sick, we’re too old to walk anymore, and on and on…
The point is, all of us will face it — disability. For it is inevitable, it is life.
But what is useful about the term is, it captures the differences between us.
Those living with a life-limiting or chronic disease, missing one or more limbs, require more support than those that don’t… in order to get by, to live, to thrive. For we still live in a world built for the “abled” not “disabled”, in a world which favours sameness over difference.
And they require this support not because they’re weak, lazy or inadequate (these tend to be the adjectives used by “assholes” i.e. those who’ve never confronted suffering, let alone themselves), but because they live with what they do.
Here at SALON, we’re made up of producers living with disability, and employ disabled people, to make films and documentaries about people with disabilities.
Our feature documentary, A Space in Time (2021), a portrait of a family living with a fatal genetic illness, was BFI backed, theatrically released, and Grierson nominated in 2022 for Best Single Documentary.
We’re currently in production on Dwarf Story (2023), which tells the story of Dr Ravi Savarirayan, who’s fallen upon a treatment which makes children with dwarfism grow. All his life he’s worked with Little People, but now could be their downfall; and I am Bebe, I am Alive, I am Beautiful(2023), a portrait of Paralympic champion and activist Bebe Vio, “the Greta Thurnberg of disability” according to Barack Obama, as she works to redefine disability.