Welcome Change Productions

07/19/2024

On July 24th, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will be hosting a panel "Disability Art Chats: Crip Pride with Riva Lehrer". This 90-minute online talk will discuss what it means to be disabled in a world of art, when disability appears in art, disabled representation in art, and more.
This program is free of charge but advance registration is required.

Please join us for Disability Art Chats, a community space for folks who identify as disabled, crip, MAD, and/or C/S/X, and those allied with the principles of disability justice. During this free, 90-minute online program, we use a crip perspective to unearth fresh interpretations of MoMA’s colle...

07/11/2024

Over 100 works by artists living with disabilities have been acquired by SFMOMA. Here's how this came to be.

After 50 years, Creative Growth in Oakland celebrates as its artists enter the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s collection.

06/27/2024

34 years ago, on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. This civil rights law prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in many areas of public life.
In honor of yesterday being the 34th anniversary of the ADA, we’d like to highlight three short films related to the ADA and the wider topic of accessibility by Davenport , a filmmaker who lives with cerebral palsy.
“Ramped Up” highlights a controversy that came out of the ADA: lawsuits against small businesses. The film shows the perspectives of both sides.

A "Wheelchair Diaries: One Step Up" explores accessibility throughout Western Europe.

In "A Cerebral Game," Reid shares his love of baseball and what it meant to him to be a teammate with cerebral palsy.
Watch on Day Films or

A Package of Three Films on Disability and Society

06/27/2024

Town Band will air on June 28th at 11pm on Public Media. If you can't make the airing date, it will also be available on-air, online, or on the free PBS App throughout the summer alongside films by other Upstate New York filmmakers.
https://www.pbs.org/video/town-band-preview-vt6bv2/

06/20/2024

I’m thrilled to share that our short film "Town Band" will air on June 28th at 11pm on Public Media. If you can't make the airing date, it will also be available on-air, online, or on the free PBS App throughout the summer alongside films by other Upstate New York filmmakers.

Town Band will air on WMHT-TV, a public station based in Troy, NY.
"At a crossroads in the Catskills, a community has been created by live music. Without the Callicoon Center band’s summer concerts for the past 89 years, the vintage band music they play would be forgotten. On-screen you’ll see people play tunes to forget daily troubles, honor rural pie-making, support their spoon-playing band member who falls ill, and teach music to the next generation."

Learn more at https://www.wmht.org/tvfilm/.

06/18/2024

Alice talks about the power of seemingly insignificant moments in a person's life that become meaningful in a documentary film.

For example, while talking about a student film made at the NYU in Cuba program, she finds the story of a single father caring for pigeons on his roof deeply touching.

She also points out that documentary film is about being “a facilitator of someone else’s story. You have the opportunity to give voice to people whose story would never be heard."

Associate Arts Professor and Area Head of Documentary Studies talks about the spring study abroad program Intermediate Documentary Film Production in Havana. Visit…

06/06/2024

Did anyone watch this adorable date from Love on the Spectrum Australia? Happy Pride Month! Description in the comments

05/28/2024

Thank you for recognizing story-based COVID vaccine PSAs!

We hope these sweet, short PSAs acted out by talented folks from the community inspire folks to talk with their doctors and loved ones about immunizations and boosters designed to protect from the latest strains.
These two videos can be found pinned at the top of our Instagram and on our YouTube page "Welcome Change Productions".

Produced by with support from &
Directed by Alice Elliott
Produced by Piper Werle
Director of Photography:
Second Camera: Peter Weiss
Production Assistants: & Sue Lee

05/08/2024

If you want permanence in your media collection, DVDs are the way to go. Movies get removed and added from streamers sometimes without warning!

Spring into savings with 50% off of all DVDs, including "Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy" and Oscar-nominated "The Collector of Bedford Street!" Visit NewDay.com and use code MAYDVD50 at checkout. Offer ends 5/31/24.

[Image Description: A square post featuring a center image that says “Spring Sale 50% off DVDs use code: MAYDVD50.” This text is surrounded by posters of 10 different social issue films. Starting at the top left and going clockwise, the films are: Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy, Vision Portraits, Trust Me, 95 and 6 To Go, once removed, The Collector of Bedford Street, The U Turn, Drunk on too much Life, Deej, and Far East Deep South.]

05/03/2024

Which accessibility features do you wish were in more films? ASL? Audio Description? Closed Captions? Something else? Recently, three Academy Members from the documentary branch met up to work on an accessibility program to make academy films more accessible!

Image Description: Jim LaBrecht, Jason DaSilva, and Alice Elliott are in a Zoom meeting. Jason's zoom square is on top, and Jim and Alice are sitting together on the bottom square. Their names are typed out next to each of their faces, as well as films they've worked on. They read: "Jason DaSilva (When I Walk), Alice Elliott (Collector of Bedford Street), Jim LaBrecht (Crip Camp)."

04/01/2024

Join us at the ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York Industry Summit, in person + online, April 8-9! It’s the largest festival in the country dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories, and artistic expressions of people with disabilities.

Alice will be participating in the Crip Script Pitch on April 9 at 3pm with Emmy Award-winning director of “When I Walk,” Jason DaSilva.

They’ll be pitching “The Dismantled,” a feature film written by Jason that will be co-directed by Jason and Alice.

The fest will also be screening new short and feature films in-person and online, 4/3-4/10!

ID 1: A collage of images - An Asian man in a baggy black outfit with a bald head strikes a pose in a dance studio with ivory walls. His eyes are closed and arms are outstretched; A man in shadow is backlit by a window; he holds his hand in the air over a piano; A man faces a camera on a pink studio background, while another man wearing a cap is filming. Text: The 16th Annual ReelAbilities Film Festival New York. April 3-10. ReelAbilities Industry Summit: Disability Inclusion and Equity in Film + Performing Arts. April 9-10 in person + virtually. ReelAbilities.org/summit. Presented in partnership with NYC Media & Entertainment.

ID 2: A mosaic of images from films, with orange pixels scattered throughout. The text reads: 16th Annual ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York, April 3-10, 2024. Celebrating disability thorugh film. In venues throughout NY + online reelabilities.org/newyork

04/01/2024

Join us at the ReelAbilities Film Festival: New York Industry Summit, in person + online, April 8-9!

Alice will be participating in the Crip Script Pitch on April 9 at 3pm with Emmy Award-winning director of "When I Walk," Jason DaSilva.

They'll be pitching "The Dismantled," a feature film written by Jason that will be co-directed by Jason and Alice.
https://reelabilities.org/summit

ID: A collage of images - An Asian man in a baggy black outfit with a bald head strikes a pose in a dance studio with ivory walls. His eyes are closed and arms are outstretched; A man in shadow is backlit by a window; he holds his hand in the air over a piano; A man faces a camera on a pink studio background, while another man wearing a cap is filming. Text: The 16th Annual ReelAbilities Film Festival New York. April 3-10. ReelAbilities Industry Summit: Disability Inclusion and Equity in Film + Performing Arts. April 9-10 in person + virtually. ReelAbilities.org/summit. Presented in partnership with NYC Media & Entertainment.

03/20/2024

We highly recommend "The Tuba Thieves," a new film about "the role sound plays in our world, both for those who take it for granted and those to whom access is denied."

The NYT Critics Pick is playing at in NYC through 3/27, then continues its theatrical release across the US. Go to thetubathieves.com to see if it's playing near you!

Image Description 1:
The Tuba Thieves poster features Nyke, a Black woman with a far-away expression and long, full locs, staring to the right of the camera. At the top, thin black font says, "[The Tuba Thieves]"

Image Description 2:
A photo of the paper article about "The Tuba Thieves." We can just make out the review in the "Movies" section, "Without Sounds, What Are We Exactly?"

03/14/2024

Every month, we send a disability media recommendation to our newsletter email list. This month's is a 10-minute short film called "Hidden Disabilities" by Bryony Moss, actor, model, and disability and mental health advocate.

Bryony is passionate about quality disability media, and we're excited to interview her soon! Follow her .

"Hidden Disabilities" is available on YouTube and is in our link tree!

ID 1: Bryony Moss, a young South Asian woman, wears a brightly colored patterned sweater and smiles into the camera. On the bottom is a quote from an interview with her, "When I was younger, I would not have identified as being disabled. I didn’t have the confidence to be like, ‘this is me.’ But now I’m okay with it and proudly use the word to describe myself. -Bryony Moss, 'Hidden Disabilities'"

ID 2: Another photo of Bryony from the same photoshoot, smiling with her hair and makeup done, looking fabulous, with the quote, “When you’re disabled, people think you must be, look, and speak a certain way or not able to do certain things. I’m determined to shift these attitudes because I regularly face negativity online due to my conditions, and I know people have a lot to learn. -Bryony Moss, 'Hidden Disabilities'"

ID 3: Bryony has a softer smile in this photo and tilts her head. The quote reads, "To change these attitudes, I believe there needs to be more representation of people with invisible disabilities in the media. There’s so little awareness of the conditions and impairments we have. A lot of people have never heard of cerebral palsy.
-Bryony Moss, 'Hidden Disabilities'"

02/12/2024

We needed some guidance on writing more concise and effective image descriptions, and this post by Alex Chen really helped! We hope it helps you too, and will link Alex’s full article in our bio link for the next month, if you want to dive deeper.

Other accounts to looks for guidance on image descriptions, alt text, and other accessibility guidance:


We know there are more creator accounts we just haven’t encountered yet making content in this space, and we’d appreciate you sharing handles in the comments so we can follow them and support their work.

Image descriptions:
4 images, all mostly text on a light purple background.

(1) Diagram at the top that says, “object, action, context.” Text below says, “Write image descriptions using the format object-action-context to keep them objective, concise, and descriptive.”

(2) Text says, “Objective > Subjective. So that people can form their own opinions. Concise > Wordy. So that people can quickly browse through content. Descriptive > Vague. So that it captures all essential aspects of the image.”

(3) Photo at the top with description below that says, “A Black Lives Matter sign being held anonymously in a crowd in front of a stone building” - labeled for the object (Black Lives Matter sign), action (being held), and context (in a crowd in front of a stone building).

(4) Photo from slide 3 is replaced with a black outline around the image description. Text below says, “The description should hold up by itself, since this is how many screen reader users will experience it.”

02/02/2024

We seek out work that is well-crafted, original, entertaining, and above all honest to the experience of people with disabilities. No inspiration p**n or stereotypes. What would you add to this list?

Image descriptions in comments!

01/10/2024

Why do you stay healthy? Vaccines are a safe and effective way to ensure you’re protecting your health so you can continue to spend time with the people you love.

If you or anyone you know needs help with transportation or making an appointment go to tinyurl.com/MNS-VACCINE

This video, targeted to American Sign Language users, but accessible to all, features actors cast from the Mill Neck Services D/deaf and hard-of-hearing Community!

12/18/2023

Did you know that only about 39% of older adults with disabilities have received all recommended immunizations?

Earlier this summer, contacted us about producing two Public Service Announcements to help address this issue. The two 90-second, story-based public health messages are in ASL (American Sign Language). Links to watch these are in the bio!

📣 [megaphone emoji] Mill Neck Services is also offering support to anyone who needs help making an appointment or getting transportation, no matter where you live in the US. A link to fill out a quick form to ease your access to this important health care is also in the bio.

10/02/2023

TOWN BAND (22 minutes) will screen Friday, October 27, at 12:45 PM. It will be followed by a screening of the feature film Ever Deadly, co-written and directed by and .mcmullan.

For almost a hundred summers, a multigenerational Town Band brings a tiny Catskills community together to forget about their troubles. TOWN BAND investigates why the multigenerational Callicoon Center Band is, against all odds, committed to maintaining an almost 100-year tradition.

08/14/2023

Accessibility impacts everyone, whether or not they have a disability.

We dug into this topic with , the filmmaker behind ! See the full interview on our YouTube channel.

07/31/2023

Hi all! We’re seeking a few D/deaf/Hard of hearing crew members for an upcoming shoot.

Please repost, share, tag, like and comment to help spread the word!☺️

07/24/2023

Happy to see switch to person-first language! When they first posted this article, they used version one. After several readers commented, they changed it. Here’s why it matters -

((reference for person-first language: https://adata.org/factsheet/ADANN-writing)

07/13/2023

ATTN Nonfiction Media Makers w/ disabilities: International Documentary Association is offering free membership in exchange for completing this survey about how your needs could be better met in the industry: https://bit.ly/IDADisabilitySurvey
open until 7/31.

Please click the link to complete this form.

06/20/2023

Submission opportunity 📣 [megaphone emoji]

This program is for creators of color in documentary filmmaking or nonfiction new media who identify as living with a disability.

Applications will be accepted until July 31, 2023 11:59 pm EST.

05/26/2023

We know it’s old-fashioned & whatnot. But please tell us we’re not alone in our appreciation for DVDs? 🤭 [embarrassed hand-on-mouth emoji]

Link in the last slide is https://bit.ly/May23SaleCB

05/22/2023

Are you or someone you know a person with an intellectual disability who wants to work on self-advocacy?

Don't miss the Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy sale this week! https://bit.ly/May23sale

🌺Spring has sprung, and we're celebrating with a sale! 🌺
Enjoy 30% off any DVD purchases on our site with code MAYDVD30 at checkout.
Browse our New Releases or search by subject area: https://buff.ly/3Bg3PJy

Pass this along to any media librarians you know and don't miss out on this opportunity to add to your media collection. Code expires May 31.

[Image description: A rectangular background with colorful and abstract DVD discs. A yellow square in the center of the background holding the text Spring Sale 30% Off DVDs Use Code MAYDVD30 during checkout at https://buff.ly/2ZvDDVY. The New Day logo is in the bottom right corner in a black box.]

04/26/2023

ReelAbilities Film Festival is the US’s largest film festival dedicated to showcasing films by, or about, people with disabilities. This week is showing films in person, but there is also the option to stream the shorts programming for free, if you’re not in NYC! We’ll put RSVP links for those into our stories.

Some things we love about this festival are its:

Accessibility:

In-person screenings and remote viewings both have multiple forms of accessibility.

Diversity:

The festival offers documentary and narrative films featuring a wide variety of disabilities.

Inclusivity:

Every film is created by or features a person or people with disabilities.

04/14/2023

's DARK DISABLED STORIES is changing the game for accessible theater.

Access was built into the design and world of the show:

🙌 [hands emoji] actor was a main character alongside Ryan, who played himself. Dickie ALSO played Ryan, but he signed the script in ASL while the other Ryan spoke it. Read that as many times as you need.

🗣️ [profile of person talking emoji] the audio describer, was also a character in the show. The audio description was part of the script.

🦼[motorized wheelchair emoji] the first row in the house was for people in wheelchairs

🧂[salt shaker emoji] there was extra space in the house for anyone who needed space to move throughout the show, making it neurodivergent-friendly

Not to mention the storytelling was captivating. The show’s run is over but read all you can about it. May this production inspire many more to incorporate accessibility into the production design and script!

ALT TEXT: the DARK DISABLED STORIES Playbill cover. Black, block text with pink lines and arrows interspersed between and on top of letters.

03/21/2023

We've had the pleasure of working with incredible self-advocates for people with disabilities, like Diana Braun.

See the trailer for a documentary following her and her long-time friend with cerebral palsy, Kathy Conour, as they live independent lives, and advocate for others to do the same: https://www.newday.com/films/body-soul-diana-kathy

Alt text on slides.

03/15/2023

Want to help make NYC more accessible? You can, this Saturday!

The AXS Mapathon is a competitive and fun game for people with disabilities and their supporters.

Our founder will be there with Emmy Award winning filmmaker and AXS Map creator, .

RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/axs-mapathon-long-island-city-tickets-549367170997