January 31, 2005: Headlines: COS - Sierra Leone: Awards: Hollywood: Documentaries: Movies: Autism: Daily Orange: Sierra Leone RPCV Douglas Biklen earns Oscar nomination for "Autism is a World" as best Documentary Short Subject
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January 31, 2005: Headlines: COS - Sierra Leone: Awards: Hollywood: Documentaries: Movies: Autism: Daily Orange: Sierra Leone RPCV Douglas Biklen earns Oscar nomination for "Autism is a World" as best Documentary Short Subject
Sierra Leone RPCV Douglas Biklen earns Oscar nomination for "Autism is a World" as best Documentary Short Subject
Sierra Leone RPCV Douglas Biklen earns Oscar nomination for "Autism is a World" as best Documentary Short Subject
SU professor earns Oscar nomination
Biklen up for best Documentary Short Subject
By Marc Peters
Published: 1/31/2005
Most would consider an Oscar nomination the end goal of making a movie, but for activists like Syracuse University professor of education Douglas Biklen, the honor is secondary to furthering disability awareness.
"Autism is a World," produced and directed by Gerardine Wurzburg, and co-produced by Biklen has been nominated for the 2004 Academy Award for best Documentary Short Subject. The nomination is Wurzburg's second, her film "Educating Peter" won the award in the same category in 1992.
"Of course (the nomination) is exciting," Biklen said. "The main reaction I have is elation that the film will now get seen very broadly and for many years to come."
The film is a look at the life of an autistic woman, Sue Rubin, and a presentation of how the world is viewed through her eyes.
Biklen met Rubin 12 years ago at a conference he spoke at in California. Biklen often invites Rubin to give speeches in Syracuse, one of which is featured in the film.
The film is not the first venture between Wurzburg and Biklen, who have wanted to do a film together for many years, Wurzburg said.
"This was the right subject and he actually introduced me to Sue. That is how I got to know her. His work and his writings have been very influential in moving towards inclusion of peoples with disabilities in our society," Wurzburg said.
The best way for college students to get involved and make a difference is to join an organization that allows people with disabilities, parents, friends and professionals to work together, Bilken said.
"(Bilken is) a great professor," said Liz Cufari, a freshman education major. "He influenced me to go more towards inclusive education. I was not going to do that before I came to Syracuse. (After taking his class) and learning more about inclusive education, I want to get involved and help kids."
Biklen's work has taken him around the world. Starting the 1960s, Biklen spent two years in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
"(The Peace Corps) led me to want to work on issues of access to public schooling," Biklen said. "From there I became interested in the representation of disability in popular culture."
All of Biklen's work focuses on issues of access and inclusion, he said. Although this particular film was made in the last year and half, Biklen has spent the past 15 years focusing mainly on communication rights with people who have limited speech. A large area of his work has been with autistic people.
"One of the main difficulties that people with autism and other developmental disabilities face is the tendency in the rest of society to equate difficulties with speech with problems in thinking, i.e., intelligence," Biklen said.
Biklen also uses other media to work for disability rights. He is currently working on a collection of essays based on interviews and narratives, all by people classified as autistic. The book, due out in June, is entitled "Autism and the Myth of the Person Alone."
"This film will show the inherent ability of people with autism and that is Sue's story," Wurzburg said. "The single most important thing about being nominated is moving the discussion further and to a world wide level."
CNN will air the film in May.
When this story was posted in January 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| Ask Not As our country prepares for the inauguration of a President, we remember one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and how his words inspired us. "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." |
| Latest: RPCVs and Peace Corps provide aid Peace Corps made an appeal last week to all Thailand RPCV's to consider serving again through the Crisis Corps and more than 30 RPCVs have responded so far. RPCVs: Read what an RPCV-led NGO is doing about the crisis an how one RPCV is headed for Sri Lanka to help a nation he grew to love. Question: Is Crisis Corps going to send RPCVs to India, Indonesia and nine other countries that need help? |
| The World's Broken Promise to our Children Former Director Carol Bellamy, now head of Unicef, says that the appalling conditions endured today by half the world's children speak to a broken promise. Too many governments are doing worse than neglecting children -- they are making deliberate, informed choices that hurt children. Read her op-ed and Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children 2005. |
| Our debt to Bill Moyers Former Peace Corps Deputy Director Bill Moyers leaves PBS next week to begin writing his memoir of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Read what Moyers says about journalism under fire, the value of a free press, and the yearning for democracy. "We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country," he warns, "or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia." |
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
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Story Source: Daily Orange
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Sierra Leone; Awards; Hollywood; Documentaries; Movies; Autism
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