OVERVIEW

 

BEING MICHELLE presents a special opportunity to raise awareness around the disproportionate impact of incarceration and systemic discrimination of Deaf and Disabled people. The film can help shift the public safety narrative from one of policing and incarceration to one of community and public health investments. Michelle’s story also demonstrates the significance of art as a healing tool.

 
 

VIEW THESE MESSAGES FROM OUR PRODUCING TEAM!

 

Here's a message from the #BeingMichelle team leading up to @BendFilmFestival!! Sign up for the newsletter and join the movement to demand the basic human #RightToCommunication for Deaf/disabled people in the criminal justice system! www.beingmichelle.com

We won the Audience Award!! Thank you Florida Film Festival and all the audience members who helped vote #BeingMichelle in! We are so honored! Stay tune by visiting our website to sign up for updates!

 
 

BEING MICHELLE presents a special opportunity to raise awareness around the disproportionate impact of incarceration on deaf/disabled people.

Being Michelle Big Sky Film Festival 2022

Being Michelle - Michelle Message from Missoula, MT

Here's a special message from #BeingMichelle's Social Impact Producer, Dr. Mei Kennedy. If you would like to share your story, please reach out to her at mei@beingmichelle.com. Together, we can make a deeper impact!

Being Michelle - Executive Producer Delbert Whetter and Associate Producer Harold Foxx.

Executive Producer Delbert Whetter and Associate Producer Harold Foxx have a special message about the film.

Being Michelle Big Sky Outtake.

Being Michelle - A message from Associate Producer Harold Foxx.

In honor of today, December 3rd, being International Day of Persons with Disabilities, our Associate Producer Harold Foxx has a special message from all of us at Being Michelle, the film.

 

DONATE TODAY TO SUPPORT THE SOCIAL IMPACT CAMPAIGN FOR BEING MICHELLE.

YOUR DONATION WILL SUPPORT EXPENSES FOR MICHELLE AND OUR TEAM TO USE THIS POWERFUL FILM TO RAISE AWARENESS AND EDUCATE ON FUNDAMENTAL AND BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS FOR DEAF & DISABLED PEOPLE IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.

 

GOALS

We have the right to communication.

• Drive audiences to take action around specific legislation to affect Disability Justice and Disability Rights through an online action center connecting people with their elected officials.

• Creation of digital tools and/or educational resources to accompany the film.

• Facilitate a grassroots screening tour to reach and engage target audiences.

• Facilitate speaking appearances for filmmakers, subjects, and/or expert speakers. Includes capacity-building workshops; paid advising opportunities and speaking events; and mental health support.

• Collaborate with national and regional partner organizations in the justice space to create greater awareness of the important issues raised in the film and its social impact campaign.

• Produce additional programming on disability and incarceration which is accessible to a wide audience, including people with different types of visible and non-visible disabilities.

 
 
 

TELL YOUR STORY CAMPAIGN

#RightToCommunication #DisabilityJustice #DeafInPrison #DisabledInPrison #ArtTherapy #TraumaRecovery #TellYourStory

 
A white woman with short red hair and thick-rimmed glasses smiles big while holding a painting next to her as she sits in front of a fold-out table with paint tubes on a deck outside. The painting has five hands ranging in skin tones signing the let

Artwork by Michelle Ricks

 
 

#TellYourStory

We are currently gathering stories from other deaf/disabled people who have experienced injustice in the criminal justice system. Do you have a story to tell? Please connect with us!

If you don’t wish to share your story publicly we can discuss ways for you to share your story without sharing your identity.

 
 
 
 
 
A painting depicts three black and brown imprisoned women behind long grey bars. Each woman is looking out of the bars in a blue jumpsuit with a blank expression.

Artwork by Michelle Ricks

 
 

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN ASL?

Try one of these programs!

 
 
 
“Black individuals with disabilities are at particularly high risk for arrest, with 55% being arrested by age 28.”
— McCauley, 2017
 
Two policemen in full tactical gear walk in front of a large lit-up LED American flag on the side of a building in a city.
 
A faint grey silhouette of a person stands in the middle of a window behind a curtain and bars in a stark black and white photograph.
 
“According to a report by Ruderman Family Foundation, between 1/3 and 1/2 of people killed by law enforcement officers have a disability.
”
— Perry & Carter-Long, 2016
 
 
 
“According to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, people with disabilities experience rape and sexual assault at more than twice the rate at which persons without disabilities do.”
— Rand & Harrell, 2007
 
A white woman with short red hair and thick-rimmed glasses holds a self-portrait of herself while a police car drives by on a backroad in rural Florida at sunset. The woman is wearing a black t-shirt, white pants and looks ahead expressionless mirror