About the Film
Synopsis
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is a half-hour documentary about a renegade Jerry's Kid named Mike Ervin. A Muscular Dystrophy Association poster child in the 1960s, today Mike is an outspoken disability rights activist who challenges the MDA's representation of people with disabilities in its Labor Day telethon through his activist group, Jerry's Orphans.
Background
Charities have used poster children to raise money since the 1930s because
it works. People see a child with leg braces and crutches; they feel sorry
and drop a coin in the jar or call in the pledge. But once the fundraising
drive is over, that image of the poor little poster child lingers. The general
public absorbs the idea that people with muscular dystrophy, or polio--really
all people with disabilities--are pitiable victims who want and
need nothing more than a big charity to take care of or cure them. Mike
calls this the charity mentality.
While the Jerry Lewis telethon may seem like a quaint relic to younger
viewers, the reality is that both the charity mentality and the MDA's
use of the pity approach
to raise money seriously undermine the disability
civil rights movement. The telethon routinely implies that the source of
the problems people with disabilities face is their medical conditions and
the answer to their problems is curing them. Millions of viewers tune in
every year and come away with the idea that people with disabilities need
pity and charity rather than accessible public transportation and housing,
employment opportunities and other civil rights that a democratic society
should ensure for all its citizens.
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT documents the history of Jerry's Orphans and three consecutive years of their local Chicago Telethon protests. The film contrasts outdated attitudes with a view into the real lives of people with disabilities today. The goal of THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is to raise consciousness about the subtle effects of pity, to empower people with disabilities to advocate for their own rights, and to inspire activism.
Watch Clips
Click
here to see a clip from THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT.
You need quicktime to see this movie. Click
here to go get a free download.