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Ban ‘mentally-retarded’ from vocabulary: Open Forum
Ban ‘Mentally-Retarded’ from Vocabulary: Open Forum, International Children's Film Festival. "I suggest that people should volunteer and work with differently-abled children so that they feel loved and appreciated- Activist Sheila Rao
"I suggest that people should volunteer and work with differently-abled children so that they feel loved and appreciated- Activist Sheila Rao
The highlight of day six at the 18th International Children's Film Festival of India was the fifth and last open forum of the festival on ‘Children with special needs: Representation in cinema’ with an esteemed panel of filmmakers and activists.
The panelists on the Open Forum were Ayodhya Kumar (director of the In Competition Live-Action Feature ‘The Fireflies’ aka ‘Minukumanna Minugurulu’), Professor Hou Keming ( director of China Children's Film Association ) , Nina Alexandra Dor ( assistant director of ‘A Horse on the Balcony’), Kavita Anand (vice-chair person of Children's Film Society India), and Sheila Rao (an NGO activist for children with special needs). The discussion was moderated by Shalini Gupta.
‘My Running Shadow’ shows how a mother is devoted to well-being of her autistic son, putting his needs above hersef. People also need to become aware of various disabilities in children to become less judgemental."
Nina Alexandra Dor from the team of ‘A Horse on the Balcony’ explained, "We spent a lot of time with children and psychiatrists to understand and correctly depict the behaviour.
Activist Sheila Rao said, "I have seen that children in classrooms are compassionate and accommodating towards their peers with ID. I suggest that people should volunteer and work with differently-abled children so that they feel loved and appreciated. It is immensely fun and gratifying to do this. Also, ban phrases like 'mentally retarded' from the vocabulary."
Ayodhya Kumar, director of The Fireflies, shared his experience of making the heart-rending movie with 40 visually-disabled children. He said, "I wanted to make a movie with actual visually-disabled children because it is completely their story of their plight in India. I wanted their participation so this film has also been shot by the same children”. Kavita Anand, vice-chairperson of Children's Film Society India talked about the depiction of differently-abled people in films. She says.
