The Ability Exchange

The Ability Exchange is a documentary film about acclaimed professor Allan Goldstein's Disability Studies course at NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering (which is taught in partnership with United Cerebral Palsy of NYC). In this class, engineering students and self-advocates with cerebral palsy team up to make movies and, in the process, are forced out of their comfort zones. Consequently, this observational film illustrates the trajectory of personal growth and bonding that these first time filmmakers experience, during a journey in which the line between ability and disability gets blurred, definitions of "normalcy" and "inspiration" challenged. Traditionally assigned roles blend and the supposed "disabled subjects/consultants" become learning partners, creative allies and friends of their young counterparts. The Ability Exchange invites the viewer to reflect on what it takes to understand and appreciate a person, a community, a culture, and how this exchange of abilities and ...