“If I can do it…”

That ever-inspiring statement has become so cliche and commonplace that we pay little attention. We go on, having not been moved at all.

Sometimes, though, we’re sent links to sites like Life Without Limbs, and read the story of Nick Vujicic, who strives to inspire everyone and anyone. From convincing teenage outcasts that they’re worthy of love, that they are beautiful, to inspiring prisoners to make a commitment to change their lives, it’s difficult to listen to him speak without shedding a few tears.

Last month I found myself sitting in the front row, in a crowded auditorium (just feet away from Tom Berenger, by the way), crying. My husband – the first blind feature film director – was accepting the Achievement in Cinema award at the Gasparilla International Film Festival.

I shed not tears of joy (despite the fact that it was the proudest I’ve been), but rather those of self-reflection. You see, he didn’t know he had to speak, and when he let me in on the news, we didn’t discuss it at all. I had no clue what he was going to say.

My husband never ceases to amaze me. He consistently breaks the perceived mold of those who cannot see. He gets a lot of, “Oh, I’m so sorry” and “your wife really loves you.” Yes, I’m serious. Last week a woman told me that I’m a saint for “taking such good care of him”. Little do they know…

This Friday I want to share my husband’s speech, which has thus far been circulating mostly on self-help and therapy web sites. I share it not so much because he’s the man working in an office just 30 feet from mine, but because of his message.

I’ve always known my husband is a man who intends to live his life without limits. But, like that traditional, “If I can do it…” quote, I’m just used to him pushing the envelope – so much that these words were simply never expected.

Please do let me know what you think.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2011/04/22.
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Post tags: blind users, inspiration, my life

The movie is nearly complete and ready for distribution. But, he needs your help. Please visit the Kickstarter Page for The Bunker and share the links via Facebook and Twitter, or any other social networks to which you’re subscribed. Lots of great folked have already pledged and share the news, but there’s just six days left (as of the date of this post) to reach the goal.

The project ends September 30, 2010.

Here are just a few articles, news and interviews about the project. And, thanks in advance for your help in spreading the word!

What If There Was No Marketing? (bkmacdaddy)

In this must-read article, Brian explains how marketing is a vital part of sharing worthy things across social media platforms. He then promotes the project.

Visions of a Blind Film Director (parmfarm)

Award-winning journalist Amy Parmenter conducted an interview with Joe and you can hear the full audio.

Kickstarting a Dream (webOSroundup)

The webOS community site supports the project – in fact, they’re backing it based on the number of pledges and shares across social media.

Blind Guy Raises Dough to Finish Horror Flick (WIRED.COM)

Blind Man Makes Movie (CBS/WINK)

Watch the newsclip…

REALLY BUSY? Here are some Tweets you can simply copy & paste:

Make this happen! #Blind #Latino Director’s Feature Film: http://bit.ly/cW7erh Pls RT!

The most unique film project ever? Help get it released! http://bit.ly/cW7erh

Impossible is an opinion, not a fact. #Blind #Latino filmmaker proves it: http://bit.ly/cW7erh

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/09/24.
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After my blind husband, Joe, reached out via Kickstarter to help raise completion funds for his first feature film, we were faced with a number of negative comments. Earlier this month I talked about someone who said Joe needed to stop chasing the abilities he’s lost, and do something else. My post was written to hopefully bring awareness to the millions of blind people who are perfectly capable of carrying out unique and admirable tasks.

Naysayers aren’t anything new to Joe – he’s been busting through hurdles and proving doubters wrong ever since he began working on The Bunker nearly five years ago. On Friday, though,, things took an unexpected turn when I was accused of being Joe’s surrogate. You read that right -  a question’s been raised over me having supposedly directed the film, passing credit off to my husband, ostensibly  for the sake of him getting 15 minutes of fame.

Unlike other party poopers, who claim Joe’s simply not capable of carving out a career in filmmaking – this guy decided to instead accuse both Joe and I of outright fraud. His post is filled with utter ignorance and disdain, going so far as to say that even having Joe on set is a health and safety risk for the cast and crew, rendering any production uninsurable.

To guys like this, I can only offer proof via video. I wasn’t surprised to find out the so-called fellow filmmaker had not read one single interview or article, nor had he watched any of the clips from the Making of… documentary which show Joe at work, directing his cast and instructing his crew.

While people like this spend their days labeling those with unique challenges as either unqualified or incapable, I choose to label them as simply uneducated. Such naysayers, who spew nothing but doubt and dismissive comments – in an arrogant, accusatory way – have clearly missed out on some key life lessons. Such as:

• Educating himself about the project being discussed. Had the poster spent a single minute going to any of the sites linked in the forum, he’d have found not only video evidence of what Joe’s done, but seen that Joe’s been sharing his filmmaking experience with the online world via his blog since day one. Seriously, why would he (or we, in this case) spend five years hyping up a hoax, to then hit Kickstarter with a goal of $5,000? I say if you’re trying to cash in, go big.

• Having some semblance of knowledge about the blind. This hits a nerve with me because there are so many stories about sports-playing amputees, deaf actors and paralyzed mothers, which are all easy to believe. Yet, similar stories concerning the achievements of the blind scream ‘impossible’.

• Professional tact. This accusation was posted in a group devoted to industry pros – not some Yahoo group riddled with trolls. The fact that he chose such a venue to, well, act like a buffoon? Shows him to be just that.

Adding insult to injury, he closes with a rather startling and abhorrent statement… That my argument that “anyone can do anything they put their mind to” doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Perhaps he’s experienced many failures in life. Perhaps he’s concerned that a blind director might possibly steal some of his own thunder. Or, perhaps he’s just so arrogant that he thinks unless someone is born “perfect” they’ve no shot at attaining their goals. I couldn’t tell you which – heck, maybe it’s all three – but I will say this: It’s people like this guy that make society appear pathetic. It’s people like him that crush people’s spirits, making them believe they’ll never be recognized for what they strive to accomplish…

Save for the strong and determined – both of which describe my husband. While very below the belt and shocking, Friday’s rant didn’t make Joe hesitate for a moment. He rebutted the post with politeness and facts. After which, he did what he always does when confronted with an ignorant naysayer. He moved forward, because something much bigger is at stake, and within a hair’s breadth of being realized.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/09/19.
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I’m talking about guys like Nick Vujicic, who’s self-portrait video has garnered more than a million hits on YouTube. The series, titled “No Arms, No Legs, No Worries” tells the story of a man who refuses to let the hand he was dealt stop him from inspiring others to quit complaining and realize we’re all beautiful.

I’ve known many disabled people who have consistently proven they really have no disabilities at all, but simply a different way of doing things. Our recent quest (via Kickstarter) to raise funds so my blind husband’s movie – an independent thriller – could be completed in post, caused the cycle of disbelief to start all over again.

"Blindness may take your sight, but it cannot steal your vision." - Joseph M. Monks, Blind Film Director

When I’m met with naysaying about Joe’s own efforts to direct a feature film, I’m utterly confused. I’m not talking about comments like, “Wow, I can’t imagine how he did that!”, but rather advice that he should stop trying to chase the abilities he’s lost, and move onto something else.

No, I’m not stretching the truth here. And it makes me wonder why it’s so unbelievable that he could have written a movie script, built the set and directed from start to finish.

I share with you the following – a video that spotlights Joe himself. Here, you’ll see that he used power tools to build the set and worked directly with the cameraman to get the shots he wanted. A little swordfighting is thrown in (not staged, either – he’s actually dueling a seasoned competitor in a packed room) just for kicks, as well as testimony by some of the actors.

So, give it a watch, then tell me… is it really impossible for the blind to accomplish the same things as the sighted? Why are stories of people in wheelchairs playing basketball extraordinary, but the blind working in a “visual” field perceived as an impossibility?

<<HELP THE PROJECT – ENDS SEPT. 30, 2010>>

As Joe says, “Blindness may take your sight, but it cannot steal your vision”.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/09/06.
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I’m talking about the blind. Actually, more so, those with total blindness (which is less than 1 million, but still a buying demographic). Being married to a blind man, I experience on a daily basis the hurdles websites place on the low- and no-vision population. For example, “boxing in” dozens of social media icons may help you target the broadest audience when it comes to sharing content, but a blind user with accessibility software is forced to “listen” to each and every icon/graphic before moving onto the meat of a page. Sure, he can use keyboard controls to fast-skip over them, but then he risks getting lost on the page.

From improperly coded manual tab stops to pure Flash navigation, the majority of websites and online stores have ignored blind users since the beginning. Most of these users find it overly cumbersome to navigate Facebook and many other social media sites. In fact, we actually pay someone to post my husband‘s musings and alerts on Facebook, MySpace and LiveJournal. Yep, pay… And unless someone posts directly to him, he has no idea what his friends are even saying on most of the sites with which he’s linked.

A big part of the problem, especially on news sites, is the excessive links used for visitors to share and comment on articles. The ShareThis tool helps because it commonly displays just three to four links, with a graphical overlay (one he cannot use, by the way). But at least he doesn’t have to spend five minutes listening to a lengthy list of places at which he can create an account and post his opinion.

New changes with Facebook, especially the social media plugins, should help streamline the entire process of social networking, but I wonder if it will be a step backward for the blind.

One can argue that it’s assistive technology’s job to keep up with the changes. And they do, but at a much slower pace. If JAWS (reading software) updated software every time there’s a possible change, its users would spend more time downloading and installing updates than they would visiting the sites they love. And the costs are a factor as well. Because screenreading software caters to a much smaller demographic, the costs involved per user are much higher. The initial costs for assistive technology software averages at just over $1,000. Last week we updated to the latest version of JAWS – an investment of nearly $200 (and this is most commonly an annual costs). I’ll also mention that most of the budget-friendly desktops and laptops aren’t ideal for the software, which runs during the entire process (from startup to shut down). Throw in a stellar sound card and high-end headphones, and you’re looking at a significant investment.

What’s this mean? That severely blind people who want to access the Internet typically invest $2,000 to $3,000, well above what the average family pays for a home computer. And updates to software, which are required in order to keep up with changing technology carry additional costs.

The real dilemma is sites that heavily rely on sighted visitors. This past Christmas my husband had to enlist his sister to order gifts for me at Amazon.com because the retailer pushes so much information onto its page it’s difficult for him to know exactly what he’s buying (and, as it turned out, the link he gave her wasn’t for the product he wanted – that product was actually a “People who bought this…” item).

So, I welcome Facebook’s upcoming changes and am eager to see how they’ll make my life easier, as well as how they’ll call for changes in clients’ sites. More so, though, I wonder if my husband is going to finally be able to navigate and post notes himself, or if we’ll have to keep paying someone to do the grunt work for him.

© Pamela Hazelton, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Originally published on 2010/04/21.
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Post tags: assistive technology, blind users, facebook, social media