KQED TV Celebration of Disability Culture 2007

In October 2007, KQED hosts a Celebration of Disability Culture, airing special programs that explore the complex web of experiences and issues faced by people with disabilities; and honors four outstanding individuals who are making a difference in the disabled community in 2007.

All programs are on KQED Channel 9 unless otherwise noted. KQED also broadcasts five digital channels, available to viewers with a digital receiver and in many areas to viewers with Comcast digital cable. Visit www.kqed.org/dtv for more information. KQED's digital channels are KQED Life-Encore (9.2, Comcast 189), KQED World (9.3, Comcast 190), KQED V-me (Spanish-language 9.4, Comcast 191), KQED Kids (9.5, Comcast 192) and the high-definition channel KQED HD (9.1, Comcast 709).

Sponsored by AT&T and Kaiser Permanente

Sesame Street "Bob's Deaf Niece Visits Sesame Street"
Monday, October 1, 10am KQED 9
Rosita and Telly want to play a game of tag but they can't find anyone to play with them. They meet Bob's niece Samara and wonder if she would like to play. She can't hear them because she is deaf. Rosita and Telly are concerned because they don't know how they will be able to all speak and play together. Samara explains that even though she can't hear them, she can talk to them by using sign language. They have a lot of fun learning, playing, and also signing and saying the alphabet together. Everyone on Sesame Street gets so excited about sign language that they all can't wait to learn more.

Bridge Between Silence and Sound
Saturday, October 6, 4pm KQED World
One-hour documentary narrated by Mario Cuomo that focuses on hearing loss and the Cochlear Implant, a cutting-edge, but controversial technology that gives the deaf and hard of hearing the ability to hear sounds.

P.O.V. "Freedom Machines"
Saturday, October 6, 3pm KQED World
This program, by Jamie Stobie and Janet Cole, takes a new look at disability through the lens of technology. The experiences of a group of unforgettable people let viewers re-examine ideas about ability and disability grounded in culture and attitudes. Engineers, designers and users challenge barriers inherent in built environments and reveal the gap between the promises of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and everyday reality for the 54 million Americans with disabilities. Whether mainstream technology or extraordinary inventions such as stair-climbing wheelchairs, "Freedom Machines" reveals both the power and limitations of technology to change lives.

Journey of the Heart: The Life of Henri Nouwen
Sunday, October 7, 1:30pm KQED 9
Tuesday, October 9, 8am, 11am KQED World
A profile of one of the most significant spiritual leaders of the last 50 years: priest, professor, author and social activist Henri Nouwen (1932-1996). Narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon, the program is a thought-provoking look at the life of this unassuming, charismatic scholar who wrote passionately and eloquently about humankind's communion of "frailty and brokenness." Seeking a deeper connection to his calling, Nouwen abandoned the insular world of academia to embark on a radical and personal pilgrimage that led him to L'Arche, a community of people in Toronto, Canada with developmental disabilities.

Shining Soul: Helen Keller's Spiritual Life and Legacy
Sunday, October 7, 6 p.m. KQED 9
An exploration, based on her own book, My Religion, of a significant factor in the life of Helen Keller, whom Time magazine included among the most influential people of the twentieth century: the spiritual inspiration she derived from her encounter with the writings of the visionary seer Emanuel Swedenborg. The documentary portrays her inner radiance, rich emotional depths, intellectual accomplishments, and the courageous character that allowed her to triumph over the limitations of sight, speech, and hearing disabilities. Keller's life proved an inspiration to almost everyone she met from the most severely disabled and socially deprived to great cultural and political luminaries who befriended her.

Place of Our Own: Hearing Impairments
Tuesday, October 9, 5:30 am KQED 9
A series designed for people who take care of preschool children, to provide information about child development and how children learn, as well as health and safety, play and creativity, and more.

Postcards From Buster "Step by Step (Hartford, Conn.)"
Thursday, October 11, 8:30pm KQED Kids
Buster learns Puerto Rican dancing like the bomba and modern salsa from a girl who is hearing impaired.

Farther Than the Eye Can See
Thursday, October 11, 10 pm KQED 9
Friday, October 12, 1am, 12 noon, 9pm KQED Life-Encore
Saturday, October 13, 5pm KQED World
Saturday, October 27, 4:30pm KQED World
This program takes an intimate look inside one of the most successful Mount Everest expeditions ever. The film beautifully captures the emotion, humor and drama of blind climber Erik Weihenmayer's historic ascent as well as four other remarkable 'firsts' on Mount Everest.

Vision of the Soul: The George Mendoza Story
Thursday, October 11, 11pm KQED 9
Friday, October 12, 1pm, 10pm KQED Life-Encore
This is an inspirational story of a young man's journey into blindness and how he was able to overcome this setback to become a world-class athlete. The documentary recalls George's childhood as he became increasing blind and recounts his encounter with a soul healing vision at the Chapel in Chimayo, New Mexico. Today, while George remains legally blind, he has overcome his obstacles to become a popular writer and, most recently, a successful artist painting large vibrant images on canvas.

P.O.V. No Bigger Than a Minute
Saturday, October 13, 5pm KQED World
Few people ever meet a dwarf face-to-face. In this personal journey, dwarf documentary filmmaker Steve Delano shows first-hand how a genetic mutation marks a person for life. He reveals the isolation of his school age years, his "ludicrous" strategies to fit in, as well as the mixed blessings of dwarfism. Delano exercises his license of stature and irreverent sense of humor to confront head-on conventional representations and misperceptions about dwarfs. From growing up a "freak" - a form of forced celebrity - to finally accepting and asserting his difference, Delano provides an idiosyncratic perspective based on a tip-toe life, and contemplates a future where genetic engineering may eliminate "people-of-difference" altogether.

Through Deaf Eyes
Sunday, October 14, 12 noon KQED 9
Tuesday, October 16, 8am, 11am KQED World
Saturday, October 20, 4pm KQED World
This program chronicles 200 years of deaf life in America. Using historical footage and interviews with some of today's most successful deaf citizens including Gallaudet University President I. King Jordan and actors Marlee Matlin and Bernard Bragg, this documentary examines the shared experiences of American history - family life, education, work, sports and technology - from the perspective of deaf citizens. Poignant, and sometimes humorous, the film draws on six artistic works by deaf filmmakers who present stories of conflict, prejudice and affirmation that reach the heart of what it means to be human.

Charlie's Lake
Sunday, October 14, 2:30pm KQED 9
This program delves into a typical year in the life of Jon Whitmer, a man who refuses to allow the day-to-day challenges of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy to slow him. During the course of the program, Jon turns 30, defying doctors who did not expect him to live past the age of 15. Ultimately, the documentary exposes Jon's keys to exceeding his grim prognosis: optimism, a sense of humor and family. Filmed over two years, it provides a glimpse into the realities of one working-class Montana family face as they try to manage Jon's terminal illness with very few resources.

Headstrong: Inside the Hidden World of Dyslexia A
Sunday, October 14, 2pm KQED 9
There are over 20 million Americans who are Dyslexic or have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), making this the single largest disability population in the country. This program explores the lives of people who beat the odds everyday. Through personal accounts and professional input, it explores ideas and techniques that help these individuals succeed. This beautifully produced and carefully researched documentary is an opportunity to cheer for the underdog and enjoy remarkable and diverse stories of people standing up for themselves.

Haley and Madonna
Sunday, October 14, 5pm KQED Life-Encore
Haley Crabtree, who is 13 years old and has cerebral palsy, has been involved in local Miss America pageants since she was 5 years old and sang "Don't Laugh at Me" at these local pageants. She became friends with a Jazz dancer, Madonna Emond, who later became the 2003 Miss Michigan. They decided to perform together at a local pageant. Their performance moved and impressed many people. This film highlights what disabled individuals face in their day-to-day lives and profiles the Miss America organization.

Laugh at Us: The Merry Pranksters Theatrical Group
Sunday, October 14, 6pm KQED Life-Encore
This program follows a courageous group of mentally challenged adults as they struggle to present and perform a full-length theatrical production. Interspersed with interviews by actors, relatives and volunteers, it trailed the troupe over a six-month period to chronicle everything, from the scripting stage and rehearsals to opening night's curtain call. These dedicated actors' physical and mental disabilities - ranging from Down's Syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism to obsessive-compulsive disorder - makes for a painful, but always inspiring, creative process.

Changing Identities: A Story of Traumatic Injury
Sunday, October 14, 7pm KQED Life-Encore
This uplifting documentary follows four people suffering from traumatic injury as they participate in a unique method of recovery pioneered by artist Bill Richards, and shows the impact art can have in changing the outlook and identities of disabled persons who, with the help of their mentor, come to see and believe in themselves as artists.

Innovation: Human Body Shop
Tuesday, October 16, 9pm KQED 9
Wednesday, October 17, 11am, 8pm KQED Life-Encore
Karen Grisdale, completely blind for the last 27 years, lies on an operating table in Portugal, where a surgeon is poised to remove a portion of her skull and implant a series of electrodes directly onto the visual cortex of her brain. It is a risky, expensive procedure, but one that may very well restore some of Karen's sight. In medical research facilities all over the world, engineers and doctors like Karen's are hard at work in an effort to make once debilitating conditions a thing of the past. From the most sophisticated metal leg prostheses that attaches directly to the bone, to jaw-dropping artificial vision systems and astonishing advances in the translation of brain signals, this installment of the series explores the complex and futuristic world that is melding human and machine.

Place of Our Own: Language & Speech Delays
Wednesday, October 17, 5:30am KQED 9
A series designed for people who take care of preschool children, to provide information about child development and how children learn, as well as health and safety, play and creativity, and more.

Uphill Climb
Wednesday, October 17, 11pm KQED 9
Thursday, October 18, 1pm, 10pm KQED Life-Encore
This documentary peers into the extraordinary life of Kyle Packer, a man often seen by others through a prism colored by his disability. Those who take the time to look beneath the cerebral palsy that is so physically obvious find a rich treasure of human experience. They find resilience and courage, sensitivity and strength, and above all, an optimistic spirit that pervades every part of his life.

Maya & Miguel: Give Me a Little Sign
Thursday, October 18, 9pm KQED Kids
Tito befriends a new boy, Marco, who is deaf. Marco starts to teach Tito some American Sign Language, and they decide to do a project together for the school's "Contraption Convention." But when Tito makes some pronunciation mistakes in school, he decides he doesn't want to do the project anymore (since it involves public speaking). Only when he sees how Marco persists in getting across what he wants to say - even when people misunderstand him at first - does he realize the value of practice and determination, and decides to go ahead with the project.

Expose: America's Investigative Reports: Charity Begins at Home
Saturday, October 20, 8am KQED 9
A tiny government agency has a well-intentioned mission: to channel Federal contracts to charities that train and employ workers who are blind or have severe disabilities. Known as JWOD, the program is so obscure that even some members of Congress are unaware of its existence. But when a team of journalists from The Oregonian exposed abuses by JWOD's biggest contractor, the program took on a much higher, if unwanted, profile.

P.O.V Big Enough
Sunday, October 21, 12 noon KQED 9
In this intimate portrait, Jan Krawitz revisits some of the subjects who appeared in her 1982 film, "Little People." Through a prism of "then and now," she contrasts the youth of these individuals affected with dwarfism with their lives 20 years later. From navigating everyday life to dating and marrying, they confront physical and emotional challenges with humor, grace and sometimes, frustration. This film provides a unique perspective on a proud and active community that many people know only from cultural stereotypes.

Fight to the Finish: Stories of Polio
Sunday, October 21, 1pm KQED 9
Tuesday, October 23, 9am, 12 noon KQED World
This program chronicles the amazing story of America's battle against polio, the last of the deadly childhood plagues. The struggle to develop a polio vaccine, led by Franklin D. Roosevelt, a president partially paralyzed by the disease, was an entirely private effort. No public funds were used, yet it culminated in a nationwide pilot program involving three million schoolchildren - the largest peacetime mobilization in the nation's history. The program visits families and individuals from Los Angeles to Dallas and from Boston to New York, to hear the stories of polio survivors, including the Washington Post's former managing editor, Ben Bradlee; writer and historian Geoffrey Ward; and from the many unknowns who also have rebuilt their lives. In its journey from the 1916 epidemic in New York to the race for a vaccine in the 1950s, it weaves together history and personal stories to create a documentary portrait of the human spirit.

American Masters David Hockney: The Colors of Music
Sunday, October 21, 2pm KQED 9
Poetic and narrative, David Hockney progressed from pop to naturalism to photo collage - always with a unique, powerful use of light and color. Now, his inventive stage designs have transformed opera into a magical experience - one to watch as well as to hear. Ironically, as he reaches the height of his craft, Hockney is, in private, racing against time as he is slowly becoming deaf.

Truly CA: Our State Our Stories
The Key of G
Sunday, October 21, 6pm KQED 9
This charming and insightful film tells the story of Gannet, a 22-year-old with a rare disability, as he moves out of his mother's home and into an apartment with three musicians as primary caregivers. Cobbling together funding from an array of state programs, Gannet's new roommates attempt to form a household together, creating an extraordinary world of interdependence and survival.

Making of the Puzzle Club: Brain Injury Survivors
Sunday, October 21, 7:00p.m. KQED Life-Encore
The documentary shares the story of a group of brain injury survivors from Montana who collaborated with a professor of drama and a group of actors to create a play about their experiences living with brain injuries.

Great Performances "Operatunity"
Sunday, October 21, 7:30p.m. KQED Life-Encore
The English National Opera took on an unprecedented challenge: to conduct a nationwide search to find someone with no operatic experience who could be coached to sing in Verdi's Rigoletto on the stage of the London Coliseum, side by side with world-class performers. The result is "Operatunity," the compelling human story of six, then ultimately two, raw talents whose operatic dreams finally meet reality. First, a casting call across all of England introduces viewers to a colorful array of characters with secret passions for Puccini, Wagner and Mozart. Regional auditions lead to a London workshop where the final six participants - including an investment banker, a supermarket cashier and a blind mother of three - are selected and receive coaching in vocal and dramatic technique, as well as physical training and the fundamentals of stagecraft. Finally, "Operatunity" follows two star discoveries from the nerve-wracking final days before performance to curtain-up and the exhilaration of their operatic debut, combining real-life drama with the high theatrical drama and emotional intensity of grand opera.

Right to Risk: A 15 Day Journey Through Arizona's Grand Canyon
Sunday, October 21, 9pm KQED World
This documentary chronicles the journey of 8 individuals with significant disabilities on a 15-day, 225-mile whitewater rafting adventure down the Colorado River through Grand Canyon.

The Teachings of Jon
Sunday, October 21, 11pm KQED World
Wednesday, October 24, 9am, noon, KQED World
An insightful and humorous documentary by Jennifer Owensby about her brother Jon, a 40-year-old man severely and profoundly affected by Down Syndrome. Although Jon may never accomplish much by conventional standards - he has an IQ of 20, cannot talk and earns less than $13.00 a year - his greater purpose is to teach others how to love. The program celebrates Jon exactly as he is, rather than focusing on changing Jon to fit into the world. From the opening shot, the film offers an up close and personal look at the realities of living with someone with severe mental retardation. It uncovers how this "family secret," locked away in an institution for the first 7 years of his life, became the family treasure. While entertaining, this inspirational story of one family's journey is also about honesty and redemption, acceptance and growth that offer hope to others.

Independent Lens: Twisted
Monday, October 22, 11pm KQED 9
Tuesday, October 23, 2am, 1pm, 10pm KQED Life-Encore
This program profiles people who live with dystonia - a neurological disorder that forces your muscles to twist into abnormal, often painful, movements or postures. It follows these individuals - such as Pat Brogan, a basketball coach and tri-athlete who developed dystonia after a bike accident, and Remy Campbell, an artist who gambled on a radical form of brain surgery - as they seek treatment, reckon with their disease and ponder life-changing decisions.

Independent Lens: On A Roll: Disability and the American Dream
Wednesday, October 24, 11pm KQED 9
Thursday, October 25, 2am, 1pm KQED Life-Encore
Greg Smith and his family are all in this unflinching portrait of a 65-pound man striving for the American dream. Fueled by discrimination, Smith created "On a Roll" talk radio from his wheelchair in 1992. The father of three travels the globe but finds his own nation's capital inaccessible -- a minor challenge compared to living independently and having safe intimate relationships.

Postcards from Buster: This Just In! (Alabama)
Thursday, October 25, 8:30pm KQED Kids
When he's given an assignment to do a news story, Buster goes to the Alabama School for the Blind. At the school he meets best friends Katie and Keyunna and their older brothers KJ and Curtis. With their help, Buster finds out he has some misconceptions about visually impairment. As he puts together his news story he learns that the truth is better than anything he can make up!

Place of Our Own: Identifying Autism
Sunday, October 28, 5:30am KQED 9
A series designed for people who take care of preschool children, to provide information about child development and how children learn, as well as health and safety, play and creativity, and more.

Reading Rainbow
Sunday, October 28, 8am KQED 9
LeVar Burton talks with his deaf friend Terry Lean about what being deaf is like and the different ways deaf people communicate. She also teaches him a few phrases in American Sign Language. Lea Salonga narrates Silent Lotus, a book about a girl born deaf who learns how to express herself through dance. Brothers Brian and Justin talk about their close relationship despite Brian's deafness. Justin, who knows sign language, speaks about how deaf kids are just like hearing kids. Hearing and deaf kids who participate in a special dance class discuss the experience and how they learned to communicate and become friends. Kids review The Handmade Alphabet, Hand Rhymes, and Amy: the Story of a Deaf Child.

Champions on Wheels
Sunday, October 28, 6pm KQED 9
This documentary highlights five amazing human beings and extraordinary athletes. The action begins in Sydney and follows as they compete to make Team USA and represent the US in Athens' Paralympics four years later. It is a story of courage, determination, preservation, faith, belief in self, powerful athleticism, zest for life and a great desire to be seen as a person just like anyone else. They have recaptured their lives and are savoring them. Hosted by Daryl "Chill" Mitchell.

QUEST: Nanotechnology Takes Off and Journey Into Darkness
Tuesday, October 30, 7:30pm KQED 9
From Lawrence Berkeley National Labs to Silicon Valley, researchers are manipulating particles at the atomic level, ushering in potential cures for cancer, clothes that don't stain, and solar panels as thick as a sheet of paper. How do you prepare someone who is becoming blind? Quest follows seeing adults through their physical and psychological training as they learn to live in a world without sight. Though you may not believe it, the Bay Area was home to the last whale hunting fleet in the United States - only a generation ago. Quest investigates how Richmond, California was part of a historic moment, and what remains today.

SPARK: Playwright Philip Kan Gotanda, and Other Stories
Wednesday, October 31, 7:30pm KQED 9
Explore the relationship between jazz and the Japanese American internment with playwright Philip Kan Gotanda and A.C.T. See why choreographer and dance educator Janice Garrett is attracting the best local dancers and critical acclaim in the Bay Area dance scene. Meet Jess Curtis and his company Gravity as they work on "Under the Radar." This story includes a disabled dancer.