After we made our film “Expectations”, which was a 2020 finalist of the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, I got an e-mail from an executive at a production company that was producing Brie Larson’s Disney+ series “Growing Up”. They wanted to feature a disabled person’s story and were looking for a disabled director to helm the episode. I thought it was spam – the subject of the email was “opportunity to direct for major streamer”. I thought those types of emails never happen! The executive and I connected and she told me that she saw our EDFC documentary “Expectations” and had to reach out. After sharing more of my work, I ended up getting the job, flying to New York and directing Episode 4 that is now streaming on the platform. I have since also directed episodes of Apple’s “Best Foot Forward” and I’m now a member of both the DGA and WGA. It is rare that I am in front of the camera, and the disability film challenge pushed me to be open and vulnerable. My life and career has opened up ever since I started to embrace our amazing disability community.
