DONATE TODAY TO SUPPORT THE SOCIAL IMPACT CAMPAIGN FOR BEING MICHELLE.

YOUR DONATION WILL SUPPORT EXPENSES FOR MICHELLE AND OUR TEAM TO USE THIS POWERFUL FILM TO RAISE AWARENESS AND EDUCATE ON FUNDAMENTAL AND BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS FOR DEAF & DISABLED PEOPLE IN THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.

 

GOALS

We have the right to communication.

• Drive audiences to take action around specific legislation to affect Disability Justice and Disability Rights through an online action center connecting people with their elected officials.

• Creation of digital tools and/or educational resources to accompany the film.

• Facilitate a grassroots screening tour to reach and engage target audiences.

• Facilitate speaking appearances for filmmakers, subjects, and/or expert speakers. Includes capacity-building workshops; paid advising opportunities and speaking events; and mental health support.

• Collaborate with national and regional partner organizations in the justice space to create greater awareness of the important issues raised in the film and its social impact campaign.

• Produce additional programming on disability and incarceration which is accessible to a wide audience, including people with different types of visible and non-visible disabilities.

 
 
 

TELL YOUR STORY CAMPAIGN

#RightToCommunication #DisabilityJustice #DeafInPrison #DisabledInPrison #ArtTherapy #TraumaRecovery #TellYourStory

 
A white woman with short red hair and thick-rimmed glasses smiles big while holding a painting next to her as she sits in front of a fold-out table with paint tubes on a deck outside. The painting has five hands ranging in skin tones signing the let

Artwork by Michelle Ricks

 
 

#TellYourStory

We are currently gathering stories from other deaf/disabled people who have experienced injustice in the criminal justice system. Do you have a story to tell? Please connect with us!

If you don’t wish to share your story publicly we can discuss ways for you to share your story without sharing your identity.

 
 
 
 
 
A painting depicts three black and brown imprisoned women behind long grey bars. Each woman is looking out of the bars in a blue jumpsuit with a blank expression.

Artwork by Michelle Ricks

 
 

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN ASL?

Try one of these programs!

 
 
 
“Black individuals with disabilities are at particularly high risk for arrest, with 55% being arrested by age 28.”
— McCauley, 2017
 
Two policemen in full tactical gear walk in front of a large lit-up LED American flag on the side of a building in a city.
 
A faint grey silhouette of a person stands in the middle of a window behind a curtain and bars in a stark black and white photograph.
 
“According to a report by Ruderman Family Foundation, between 1/3 and 1/2 of people killed by law enforcement officers have a disability.
”
— Perry & Carter-Long, 2016
 
 
 
“According to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, people with disabilities experience rape and sexual assault at more than twice the rate at which persons without disabilities do.”
— Rand & Harrell, 2007
 
A white woman with short red hair and thick-rimmed glasses holds a self-portrait of herself while a police car drives by on a backroad in rural Florida at sunset. The woman is wearing a black t-shirt, white pants and looks ahead expressionless mirror