[sasi] Lives Worth Living upcoming documentary

[Rita Kersh]

lives_worth_living-pressrelease.pdf
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

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CONTACT 
 
Voleine Amilcar, ITVS 
415-356-8383 x 244 
voleine_amilcar at itvs.org 
 
Mary Lugo 
770-623-8190 
lugo at negia.net 
 
Cara White 
843-881-1480 
cara.white at mac.com 
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For downloadable images, visit http://pressroom.pbs.org 
LIVES WORTH LIVING PREMIERES ON THE PBS SERIES INDEPENDENT LENS ON 
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2011 AT 10 PM 
Powerful Documentary Chronicles the History of America's Disability Rights Movement 
(San Francisco, CA) - While there are close to 50 million Americans living with disabilities, 
Lives Worth Living is the first television history of their decades-long struggle for equal rights. 
Produced and directed by Eric Neudel, Lives Worth Living is a window into a world inhabited by 
people with an unwavering determination to live their lives like everyone else, and a look back 
into a past when millions of Americans lived without access to schools, apartment buildings, and 
public transportation -a way of life unimaginable today. Lives Worth Living premieres on the 
Emmy® Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 10 PM 
(check local listings). 
Lives Worth Living traces the development of the disability rights movement from its beginning 
following World War II, when thousands of disabled veterans returned home, through its 
burgeoning in the 1960s and 1970s, when it began to adopt the tactics of other social movements. 
Told through interviews with the movement's pioneers, legislators, and others, Lives Worth 
Living explores how Americans with a wide variety of disabilities - including the blind, deaf, 
mentally, and physically challenged - banded together to change public perception and policy. 
Through demonstrations and legislative battles, the disability rights community finally secured 
equal civil rights with the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, one of the most 
transformative pieces of civil rights legislation in American history. 
To learn more about the film, and the issues involved, visit the film's companion website at 
www.pbs.org/independentlens/. Get detailed information on the film, watch preview clips, read 
an interview with the filmmaker, and explore the subject in depth with links and resources. The 
site also features a Talkback section, where viewers can share their ideas and opinions. 
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About the Participants, in Order of Appearance 
Fred Fay, early leader in the disability rights movement (1944 - 2011) 
Ann Ford, director of the Illinois National Council on Independent Living 
Judy Heumann, leading disability rights activist 
Judi Chamberlin, Mental Patients Liberation Front, a movement for the rights and dignity of 
people with mental illness (1944-2010) 
Dr. William Bronston, former staff physician at the notorious Willowbrook State School who 
was dismissed after agitating for change 
Bob Kafka, established ADAPT of Texas, a disability rights advocacy organization 
Zona Roberts, counselor, UC Berkeley's Physically Disabled Students' Program and Center for 
Independent Living, Berkeley; mother of disability rights pioneer Ed Roberts 
Pat Wright, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund 
John Wodatch, Chief, Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, U. S. Department of 
Justice 
Jack Duncan, Former Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives 
Mary Jane Owen, disability rights activist, philosopher, policy expert, and writer 
Marca Bristo, CEO, Access Living and leader in the disability rights movement 
Michael Winter, former director, Berkeley Center for Independent Living 
Lex Frieden, former director, National Council on the Handicapped 
Dr. I. King Jordan, President Emeritus, Gallaudet University 
Jeff Rosen, alumni leader, Gallaudet University 
Senator Tom Harkin, (D-Iowa) 
Bobby Silverstein, Chief Counsel, Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy 
Richard Thornburgh, US Attorney General, 1988-1991 
Tony Coelho, former Congressman, House Majority Whip, 1986-1989 
About the Filmmaker 
Eric Neudel (Producer/Director) has produced, directed, and edited numerous award-winning 
films for public television. His many credits include Eyes on the Prize, AIDS: Chapter One, LBJ 
Goes to War, Tet 1968, Steps, After the Crash, The Philippines and The US: In Our Image, Body 
and Soul, and more. He was a visiting senior critic and lecturer in film at Yale University and 
served as producer, director, and editor for Harvard University's Derek Bok Center for Teaching 
and Learning, and Spectrum Media's program series on the art and craft of teaching. Neudel was 
also a photographer and video production consultant, teaching video production to a team 
working for the Compass Project in Malawi. Photographs from his two years in Malawi were 
exhibited in the Sandra and Phillip Gordon Gallery at The Boston Arts Academy in October 
2007. 
He also served as story consultant for Row Hard No Excuses, an award-winning documentary 
about two middle aged American men who set out to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat. Most 
recently he served as a photographer in Rwanda for The Boston Globe, where he directed, 
produced, and edited a companion documentary about the Maranyundo Middle School, which 
was built on the site of one of the worst concentration camps and killing fields in Rwanda. 
About Independent Lens 
Independent Lens is an Emmy® Award-winning weekly series airing Tuesday nights at 10 PM 
on PBS. The acclaimed anthology series features documentaries and a limited number of fiction 
films united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of their 
independent producers. Independent Lens features unforgettable stories about a unique 
individual, community or moment in history. Presented by the Independent Television Service 
(ITVS), the series is supported by interactive companion websites and national publicity and 
community engagement campaigns. Further information about the series is available at 
www.pbs.org/independentlens. Independent Lens is jointly curated by ITVS and PBS; it is 
funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private corporation funded by the 
American people, with additional funding provided by PBS and the National Endowment for the 
Arts. The series producer is Lois Vossen. 
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