Trailblazers Present: Bringing Disability Into Focus

A combined screening and panel event, featuring a discussion about how young disabled people can get involved in filmmaking and how film can be used as an awareness-raising or campaigning tool. The panel will include Jon Hastie, director of A Life Worth Living and Bobby Ancil, Project Manager at the Trailblazers Muscular Dystrophy campaign, and will focus on the practical challenges of bringing disability into film, looking at how these issues can be presented in an empowering rather than a sympathetic light.

Jon Hastie is 30 years old and has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Despite his complex care needs, he works part-time at a local disability organisation and is an active campaigner for the rights of disabled people. He is also the man behind A Life Worth Living, the story of one man’s journey to meet other adults with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who are living productive, creative and fulfilling lives.

Bobby Ancil runs Trailblazers, a network of 350 young disabled people who work together on a local and national level to fight against the social injustices experienced by young people living with muscle disease or a related condition. Lights, Camera, Access is a short film based on the findings of more than 100 Trailblazers who held investigation into the level disabled access to cinemas in the UK and found it sorely lacking.

For more information, and to sign the petition to demand better access to cinemas for disabled movie-goers, visit www.mdctrailblazers.org

This event is free and fully wheelchair accesible. To book a space or if you have questions, please contact rsvp [at] shortfilms [dot] org.