steven: last video i put out, "got the juice," she's been watching that every day. like, oh, she's, like, running up her data plan. (speaking softly) you going to chop the head down? this is my little sister right here. - how you doing? steven: she's got her camera crew with her. - nice to meet you. ♪ fall in love, fall in love ♪ to sex, money, cars, and clothes ♪ steven: i feel like i'm an artist now. i feel like i'm more all-around. it's not just, like, one thing. - ♪ i'm trying to go far, go far ♪ steven: i could do any, everything, from writing a song to shooting the video and whatever-- like, all of that stuff. ♪ sign me up like kournikova ♪ one message, i decode her ♪ she come from south dakota ♪ she likes my juice, she likes yoda ♪ steven: i think naomie could definitely live on her own if she had, like, a good set-up, had someone coming in, checking in on her. - ♪ i got the juice steven: kind of putting a blueprint for her that she can learn and figure out how to do on a daily basis.

i think she'd definitely, she'd beood at that. ♪ got t juice, yeah steven: who knows, maybe the empire beauty school-- like, who knows what that could lead to? - ♪ yeah, girl, i got the juice ♪ ♪ baby girl, i got the juice... ♪ o'donnell: hey, naomie. naomie: hey. pace: hi, sweetheart. o'donnell: how you guys doing? pace: come on in. are you still okay with doing the towels? naomie: yeah. pace: remember melissa at the front desk? when the customers come in, to greet them? - yeah. - okay. and then fundraising. so, we're going to be looking for you to help assist with that. - yeah. you okay with that? - yeah. - we want to offer you project assistant, at $12 an hour. how doeshat sound, honey? - yeah. - yeah? you want to be part of the empire family? - make some money. - oh, you want to make some money? - yeah. - so you can go out for lunch?

- (laughs): yeah. - can i have my hug? - yeah. (squeezing) - welcome aboard, honey. woman: want to meet our newest empire employee? - naomie, that's awesome! that's so great! - thank you. - congratulations. - thank you. - i want a big hug, too. bye, honey, thank you for all your help. you were very good. - oh, really? oh! awesome! - i'm happy today. - you're happy today. ("shade from the sun" by matisyahu playing) i did it. - you did it! awesome. ("shade from the sun" fades) richard: there you go, i got it, i got it. yeah, so you start on the left side, and you go to the right. get next to him, emma. ♪

ah, thank you! that's a great picture. ♪ woman: michael d. aaron, bachelor of arts, college of arts and sciences. (applause) ♪ terrell edwards, bachelor of science, david b. falk college of sport and human dynamics. (applause) ♪ micah fialka-feldman. certificate, school of education. (cheers and applause) ♪

♪ richard: we're over here, micah. is that okay? janice: you want "alumni" on this? - yeah. - all right. richard: when micah was in high school, the director of special education, he sort of made a joke, and then he said, "oh, you're all going to go... you think you're going to go to brown university?" and the whole staff laughed. so what you did is open doors that very few others have done. - there's more doors to open. - absolutely, absolutely. there's no question, absolutely. - i'll, like, be around still. richard: very nice. okay. emma: you have to do it again, it's on the wrong side. - beautiful, yes, thank you, all right. man: you coming back to michigan? - no, i don't live there anymore. - you don't live there? - no. - what are you going to do the rest of your life?

- i... i'll think about that tuesday at my meeting. - sounds fair. (string ensemble playing in tent) micah: i'll come by and say hi. woman: oh, good! like, i, i'm not, like, leaving after graduation. - okay. - like... i'm going to be here still. (strings playing) emma: micah and i live closer to each other than we do to our parents. and i don't know if anyone knew that that was going to be possible in his life. it's something that, like, makes me emotional, because you just... like, it's just these constant reminders that you don't know what people are going to do. ♪ micah: hi. - hi, micah. beth myers: does it still happen in schools where people have really low expectations for kids? all the time. if you give somebody a label of a 40 iq, right? what are our expectations of that person? but i'm going to have to cut this off

so we can talk about the next piece, "1980 to now, the self-advocacy movement." and micah, you're going to talk about this one, right? micah: yeah. ed roberts was the founder of the... founder of the independent living movement, and he helped get the first-ever disability group in california and here and around the whole, like, country and stuff. the figure from the new york times, yeah, i have some comments. i'll say that lots of people society still think that people with disabilities, still have the mindset of sding them away. ♪ instructor: we can make differences be problematic. we can make differences be what divides us. or we can make differences be the thing that makes us stronger. micah: here's my family, my mom, my dad, and my, like, my younger sister, and they helped me go, like, to college and stuff.

i kind o like, watched my parents fight for me and then kind of help me understand that, like, sometimes you have to, like, fight to, like, get what you want. ♪ we're coming up on lavender, grape vines. it's a perfect picture on a summer's day. ♪ cooper: jesse was, and still is, a force in this world. we need to be able to listen to all who are marginalized by these misguided and false measurements of worth. as jesse said in his last poem...

"i'm a poet. "i speak through my poems, and people listen. "the world is my book. i hear all its voices." (clears throat softly) ♪ student: what college do you think you're going to go to? do you know yet? - nah. - do you want to go to college? - yeah. man: anyone here like to sing, act, dance, paint? a lot of you guys? all right, that's awesome. so, i want to take you up to the fourth floor. all right, guys, down this hallway are all our new art studios. you can get credit towards your degree for doing things you enjoy, like painting and sculpting. man: do you have any idea what you want to study? student: engineering. - engineering, great. - business. - art. - art.

you do art now? - yeah. - are you any good? - yeah. ("built to survive" by matisyahu plays) ♪ i'm awake ♪ once again man: we have over 150 clubs on campus. so we send students to over 100 different countries around the world. you saw the art department? - yeah. - yeah, was it cool? - yeah. ♪ i'm alive, i have survived ♪ ♪ my time is here ♪ birds sing out woman: was it a good trip overall? - yeah. - what did you like better, this or bc? - this. ♪ one more chance, one more day ♪ ♪ to find a way to say ♪ what i forgot to yesterday ♪ am i built to survive ♪ fading colors melt the skies ♪ ♪ shifting winds and storms of time ♪

♪ i am yours, you are mine ♪ i am love, play my strings ♪ play my heart, my memories ♪ ♪ i am the song of your glory ♪ am i built to survive? ♪ im the splitting of the sea ♪ ♪ading colors melt the skies ♪ ♪ shifting winds, sands of time ♪ ♪ i am yours, you areine we flow together like om ♪ flesh, blood, it animates poem ♪ ♪ eventually we gravitate home ♪ ♪ it's been a long time, it was hard on my soul ♪ ♪ but i know you've been good though ♪ ♪ still alive, giving thanks what we should do ♪

♪ the pride is a snake that can hook you ♪ ♪ hey, young world ♪ i know you've been put through ♪ ♪ all the struggle make it worthwhile ♪ ♪ the clouds go away when your soul smile ♪ ♪ the smile rises up from a dungeon ♪ ♪ locked away so long, let the sun in ♪ ♪ the radiance runs in ♪ let humanity's veins be the change, so abundant ♪ ♪ i feel the wave coming ♪ we built to survive, be the chosen among them ♪ ♪ am i built to survive? ♪ fading colors melt the skies ♪ ♪ shifting winds and storms of time ♪ ♪ i am yours, you are mine ♪ i am love, play my strings ♪ play my heart, my memories

[narrator] on the next america reframed. -i just want to be a normal kid. that's my lifetime goal. [narrator] a unique dance program puts children who are physically disabled in the spotlight. -when the idea first came up, i was like "dancing, i can't even stand." [narrator] a joyful portrait of determination family and possibility. perfectly normal for me, next time on america reframed. del toro: funding for america reframed is provided by the corporation for public broadcasting

and the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. additional funding is provided by the wyncote foundation, the national endowment for the arts, the reva and david logan foundation, and the park foundation. (light music) - [marianne] at school they were making him repeat the alphabet. the crazy mother says, but he can read. they had a program, an eye gaze computer. his eye would light up the words.

the sentence that he read was "we wanted to fly the kite, "but the wind was too strong." i said, so which word up there describes you? strong, strong, strong. he was six, i knew he could read. - our son, jesse, had cerebral palsy and could not speak. when he was six, the special education director at our local school district said we should send jesse away to massachusetts hospital school. that is not what we did. we fought to have jesse included in general education. - [man] hey, great to meet you. - good to see you. - nice to meet you. nice to meet you as well. - chris. - just so admire your film. she is marge eagan. - intelligent lives will be airing on the world channel on october 22nd at eight p.m. it's a great documentary, you'll love it. marianne leone and chris cooper

are the executive producers, it's narrated by chris cooper and it's directed by dan habib. - [jim] the thing i take away which is both positive but depressing to me is every one of these young people-- - that was smart. - you are smart. - [jim] had a universe of people around them. whether it was the brother of naomi, the musician, is just unbelievable. and the whole family. - [marianne] so if you are a warrior mother or father, you're gonna find other warrior mothers. - [chris] i look at this film and i say it comes down to community. - that's a great catch! - [chris] you see that it's the immediate community that comes in to find a means to live independently. - this is how you knew-- - i don't know how else you do it. - but you make the point, we're talking about jesse's friends, i think a girlfriend you mentioned in one case, a friend,

about what inclusion meant for those who didn't have disabilities, who jesse entered the world of. - [chris] his best friend, how is now a linguist, of all things. - [marianne] he's still getting his phd in language. - oh my gosh. - how you acquire language. it's true, jesse's little friend in the first grade who came back and said, you know, what's nonverbal? to his mother, and she said, she explained, and he said, but jesse can talk, they just don't listen. - [marge] ah. (soft music) - this business that we're in can be very selfish. - infantilizing. - self-indulgent. he was our greatest teacher and he really showed us what was important. - art is born of empathy. and we are forever grateful to our son for that. he is our true north and he is the one

who hadeepened whatever innate gifts we have - jesse was a constant reminder of living the simple life. believe it or not, we live pretty normally. - [marianne] we're coming up on lavender, grape vines. it's a perfect picture on a summer's day. - [chris] jesse was and still is a force in this world. we need to be able to listen to all who are marginalized by these misguided and false measurements of worth. - you quoted one of his poems

about what it meant to him to be a poet at the end of the film, do you remember what he said? - here is my-- - oh, sure, sure sure. - yeah. - here's my words. yeah. it hard to talk about. sometimes it's hard to quote him and say his poems. we have to-- - it certainly is. - we have to prepare to do that. we have to do actor tricks to get through that. - certainly on my good days-- - oh you should be good at that, the two of you, i guess. - no sometimes marianne goes public far, far more than i do and then-- - i have a book to promote. - in my case it's like i have good days and bad days where i can talk about him and some days i just... as jesse said in his last poem--

♪ i was born in 1928. many, many, many... (applause) things have changed... (applause) ...have changed since then. one thing never changes. god gives us all a purpose. and my daughter had a purpose. so i want to tell you about my daughter, patty. she was born when i was 19. and when she was eight months old, she had spinal meningitis.

it was a dreadful disease and still is. and her fever rose so high, it damaged her brain. people then that had brain damage was labeled "retarded." it was a hard time for them. they were rejected and sent to institutions and hidden away at home. i was determined that my daughter patty would never go to an institution. well, when she was eight or nine years old, we moved into a good neighborhood. professional people, good people. and i thought they would be understanding. so we been there about two or three weeks, and everything was beautiful, and we were happy. and then i had a visitor, a judge, and i was pleasantly pleased

until he started talking. and he said, "well, "your neighbors came to see me "and they told me you had a retarded child living here. "and i've come to tell you "that i'm going to send her to an institution or you'll build a fence around your yard." then i was shocked. and i said, "i'm here to tell you "that she will never go to an institution, "and no one... (applause) "...no one will ever put her there, but i will build a fence around my yard." so i had a fence built. and i built a sandbox, and we had a table back there where we had tea parties, and we also had a pet dog.

he was gentle and sweet, so she was happy. and we had tea parties, and one day, she come running in the house, and she got a tray, a cup of coffee; it was cold. and a napkin, a spoon, sugar, and cream, and i thought, "another tea party." but it wasn't. she ran to a fence where a neighbor was hanging out clothes, and she stood there with the tray until the neighbor came and got the tray. about 30 or 40 minutes later, i heard a knock on my door and i opened it. it was a neighbor with the tray, and tears were streaming down her face. and she said, "your daughter has "shined a light into our neighborhood. open the gate." so patty's love-- because she had heard the judge say,

you know, she had to be put in a fence or in an institution. and yet she had this unconditional love, and she wanted to show that unconditional love. and this was the time when programs should be started, because president kennedy just came into office. well, kennedy had a sister that was mentally challenged, and humphrey, the vice president, had a grandson, so they were both very interested in programs. well, they had to have groundwork done by volunteers. i was one of them, but finding the people, the children that had been hidden away, wasn't easy. but i had doctors that were friends. they told me. and i had milk carriers that were friends,

and they told me. well, i found ten. the parents were reluctant, but this is where patty come in. she visited with me and her smiles and her love, and they wanted their children to have some of that. so we needed a place. well, one the churches gave us their big fellowship room, and that was good. and we needed transportation. and one of the automobile dealers, he gave us a brand new truck, so we had a volunteer bus driver. we needed a volunteer teacher. it was me. (laughter) so, it was beautiful to see the children that hadn't had chances to learn. we got typewriters donated to us. i guess you all know what they are. (laughter) and so, anyway, one of them wanted to be a preacher.

one of the guys wanted to be a preacher. and he learned to type his name and he thought, "okay, i'm prepared to be a preacher." (laughter) but of course his speech was impaired. but it didn't matter. that's what his heart wanted to do. and one girl, she wanted to be a song leader. but her speech was impaired, but it didn't matter. we sing... and this is the way she led her sing. but we had fun, we enjoyed it. and we thought, we need to learn a sport. so it was softball. they could hit the ball. bases, they just kept running. (laughter) but you know what? we started with one and we graduated to three. the thing they loved most was going places. well, we went to the movies. one of the parents had money, so he paid for it.

we went out to eat, and he paid for it. of course, parks and fishing was free. but then the jcs and the civitan club, they got interested. so they helped us. and the high school kids, they went to activities so we'd have more to help us. today, though, things have changed. great programs, educational programs, achievements. my friends have jobs. and i want you to remember patty's purpose of smiling and love. and we too can make that our purpose, of spreading love, and we can change the world, just like she changed the lives of so many people. thank you. (cheers and applause)

(birds chirping) - that's the question you're gonna put to me? okay.