Blog

artistic collage like rendering of staircase leading to doorway of light flowers the outline of a woman in a wheel chair at the base of the stairs
July, 22, 2025

Life After

Independent Lens

Disabled filmmaker Reid Davenport investigates assisted dying and uncovers how ableism, policy, and systemic failures can make death seem like the only option. With gripping stories and a personal mission, Life After explores who gets real choice, and who doesn’t,…
Collage of various photos of participants in the film "Matter of Mind: My Alzheimers"
June, 26, 2024

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s

Independent Lens

Matter of Mind: My Alzheimer’s is an intimate portrayal of three families confronting the unique challenges of Alzheimer’s and how this progressive neurodegenerative disease transforms roles and relationships. Whether it's a partner caring for a loved one or an adult…
Headshot of Producer/Director Alison O'Daniel, a woman with light skin tone and chest-length brown hair. She wears clear-framed, round glasses and a bright orange shirt against a blue background.
Behind the Films
May, 20, 2024

“To Film with Your Ears”: Reinventing Cinematic Language with The Tuba Thieves

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

By Rachel Kolb Alison O’Daniel is a visual artist and filmmaker who works with sound, moving images, sculpture, and large-scale installations. She is the director of The Tuba Thieves, an experimental film that considers how listening can become a form…
A cartoon panel depicting a man with light skin, glasses, and brown hair holding his arm that is shaking from Parkinson's disease.
Beyond the Films
April, 8, 2024

A Cartoonist Talks About How to Be an Artist with Parkinson’s

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

Cartoonist Peter Dunlap-Shohl was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease (PD) at the age of 43. In the documentary Matter of Mind: My Parkinson's, he remarks, "To lose the ability to draw would be a catastrophic loss of myself in a sense." …
A woman with her hair in braids is superimposed over a purple-hued Los Angeles at dusk.
September, 7, 2023

The Tuba Thieves

Independent Lens

What is the role of sound and what does it mean to listen? Hard of hearing filmmaker Alison O’Daniel uses a series of tuba thefts in Los Angeles high schools as a jumping-off point to explore these questions. Through several…
Hand holding megaphone in the air
September, 6, 2023

Breaking the News

Independent Lens

Who decides which stories get told? A scrappy group of women and LGBTQ+ journalists buck the white male-dominated status quo, banding together to launch The 19th*, a digital news startup aiming to combat misinformation. A story of an America in…
A young girl lit by a red light points to her smartphone screen, which has the TikTok logo on it.
Beyond the Films
November, 15, 2022

More Than Just a Hashtag: Disability and TikTok

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Chloe Johnson If you enter the world’s most popular app, TikTok, ADHD might genuinely be the first thing that nondisabled people think of when they imagine what "disability TikTok" might refer to. News sites are even obsessed with how…
A woman using a wheelchair dances with her arms as she sits near the seaside.
Behind the Films
November, 7, 2022

“I Want to Move, I Want to Embrace Change”: Kelsey Peterson’s Journey to Dance Again

Independent Lens in Behind the Films

By Xian Horn Kelsey Peterson and I have had very different experiences of disability—I was born with cerebral palsy, and she became disabled as an adult. But watching her film Move Me, I felt deeply connected to her. The camera…
A photo of a violinist with osteogenesis imperfecta holding her instrument. She wears a red flower in her hair and has a eyebrow ring.
Beyond the Films
November, 1, 2022

“Everybody’s Voice Is Unique”: Disability in the Performing Arts

Independent Lens in Beyond the Films

By Allison Kirkland Kelsey Peterson's journey in Move Me will resonate with anyone who has undergone change and found something different but just as beautiful on the other side of that change. Using dance and choreography as a guiding framework,…
Two people in a bright, light-filled room with tall windows help a man in a wheelchair lean back and stretch his arm.
August, 16, 2022

Matter of Mind: My ALS

Independent Lens

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neuromuscular disease with an average survival time of 2-5 years from diagnosis. In this intimate exploration, three people with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease, bravely face different paths as they live with this progressively…
Black and white portrait of a woman posing defiantly in a wheelchair. Surrounding her is a gallery wall of different artwork.
August, 5, 2022

Move Me

Independent Lens

At 27, Kelsey Peterson dove into Lake Superior as a dancer and emerged paralyzed. But within the spinal cord injury (SCI) community, she found allies in her quest to discover who she is now and to dance with disability. When…
Overhead view of Gregory working at desk at home in Seattle, WA.
July, 12, 2021

The Great World of Gregory Blackstock

Independent Lens

When Gregory Blackstock was born in Seattle, Washington in 1946, “autistic” was not a term that doctors used. Yet it was clear from a very early age that Gregory processed the world around him differently and communication was challenging. After…