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Reel Abilities Fest Spotlights Lives of People With Disabilities
With Braille, sign language, captions, event is accessible to all

By: Michelle Salemi

Social and physical taboos experienced by people living with disabilities will be in the spotlight at the fifth annual ReelAbilities: N.Y. Disabilities Film Festival, kicking off on Thursday.

Houston film festival brings new perspectives to disabilities

Melissa Stockwell lost her left leg when a roadside bomb exploded in Baghdad.
Fifty-two days later, she took her first steps with a prosthetic leg.
Two months later, she was skiing. Then she completed the New York City Marathon on a hand-crank bike.
And less than a year after losing her leg, Stockwell - the first American woman to lose a limb in active combat - began training to swim in the 2008 Paralympic Games.
“I’ve done more in my life with one leg than I ever would have done with two,” the former soldier says in “Warrior Champions: From Baghdad to Beijing,” one of the documentaries screening in the ReelAbilities: Houston Disabilities Film Festival.

The Boston Jewish Film Festival will present the 2nd annual ReelAbilities Boston Disabilities Film Festival, showcasing films about the lives of people with different disabilities from a variety of communities.
The Festival kicks off on Thursday, Jan. 31 at the West Newton Cinema and will continue with presentations through Sunday, Feb. 5 at the West Newton Cinema and other locations in Boston, Springfield, and Hanover.