Meet New Day: Reid Davenport
Reid Davenport gives a TED Talk.
I currently have three films in New Day’s collection. Wheelchair Diaries, a film about accessibility in Europe, came about after I was discouraged from studying abroad because of my disability. A Cerebral Game, a personal film about growing up, was an opportunity for me to revisit and try to heal painful adolescent memories. And RAMPED UP, a film about the Americans with Disabilities Act, was made because I was conflicted about serial litigators suing businesses over access.
These films, unsurprisingly, represent a clear trajectory of my work. Before I made Wheelchair Diaries, I wasn't political about my disability or disability in general. Throughout its production though, I began to build a foundation of how to see disability as a social construct. By the time I made A Cerebral Game, I not only had a new lens for seeing disability, but wanted to experiment with a disability aesthetic, which in my case was the "shaky cam." And then finally, with Ramped Up, I wanted to present a major issue in the disability community and show both sides of it from the perspectives of people with disabilities.
My goal was to buck the myth of homogeneousness among people with disabilities, a trope that is of course applied to other minority groups as well. Most films about disability are made by non-disabled filmmakers. Often, stereotypes are reinforced and people with disabilities are seen as objects rather than subjects. When filmmakers enforce these stereotypes, enable voyeurism, or allow experts to dominate the conversation, these stories become corrosive and outweigh any exposure it may provide to people unfamiliar with disability. My films are not about medical diagnoses or overcoming or adapting. They're about society's reaction to disability, which is often problematic. These films, while not all personal, are about what I encounter daily. Reid’s three films can be purchased individually or as a package entitled Concerning Barriers. Learn more about Reid's work.