[Doug]: This is our 35th episode of Feeling Through Live 35th straight mind, you we've done 35 weeks straight and we've managed to have navigate every issue each week. And it just so happens that our very last one of the year, we have some technical difficulties here, but again, like how fitting, how fitting that our last episode of 2020 is just rife with technical difficulties. And that is a perfect segue into reflecting back on what this year has been like through the lens of Feeling Through. We had, and some of you who are on, I know have been a part of our in-person experiences that we were able to do prior to the pandemic. But for those of you who don't know about them prior to the pandemic, we were taking the Feeling Through Experience around the country, as part of, you know, it's the Feeling Through Experience for those of you don't know, by the way, is a three-part fully accessible event. that includes the short film Feeling Through a supporting documentary called Connecting the Dots, which follows the process of making Feeling Through, and also the search for our 10 year old, the Deaf-Blind man I'd met many years ago, who inspired all of it. And then part three is a panel discussion and Q and A with the Deaf-Blind community. And we were taking this experience all across the country. We were able to do 14 fully accessible in-person events prior to the pandemic from New York city to Hawaii and many places in between. And it was an amazing opportunity to bring diverse audiences together to have this shared experience. So we had, you know, in whichever city we were in, we would get as much of the local Deaf-Blind population to join us at the screening alongside the general public, have it be a fully accessible event where at times we had as many as 50 interpreters and support staff at a single screening to provide one-to-one accessibility.
So that meant stage interpreters, tactile interpreters. We would have open captions on the screen audio description available, and various accessibility components to and from the theater and within the theater. And it was such an amazing way to share the experience, to connect with people across the country. And again, bring communities together in a way that, you know, to our knowledge hadn't really happened before providing that level of accessibility. But when the pandemic hit for us, like everyone else, our plans had to change and change drastically. We had about 30 screenings lined up for the rest of 2020, 30 live screenings that we all, we had to cancel all of those obviously. And we're kind of left for, you know, a week or so, like kind of scratching our heads of like, okay, like what do we do now? Now believe it or not, I know seem like such a pro with live streams now, just kidding. We've had lots of problems at the beginning of this one, not my fault, it's the internet, but prior to this year, I personally had never done any live streams. But very quickly it clearly made sense that that was the way to go about it, you know, at the, at the beginning of the pandemic. And you can go back to our very first episode of Feeling Through live with Ryan Odland from the Helen Keller national center, which was about how COVID was affecting the Deaf-Blind community.
And in that episode, we talk about how, obviously this pandemic was affecting everyone, but you could imagine how it would disproportionately affect a community like the Deaf-Blind community that relies often largely on touch, during a time where touch was prohibited. So we, we, we knew that there was a lot of people in the community, and in our community that were particularly affected and isolated during this time and wanted to try to find a way to continue to create experiences that connected people and therefore Feeling Through live was born out of that born directly out of this need to connect people during this time where we were particularly disconnected. We've had the amazing privilege to have interpreters, as a part of every episode to provide that accessibility. Very fortunately, Facebook provides pretty accurate live captions. So we've relied on those for providing that accessibility. And, you know, we also started doing the Feeling Through Experiences virtually and, you know, well, I had, at the beginning of this process, I was a little skeptical of how this would all work, because again, we had just come off of, you know, 14 in-person screenings, where we got to physically, you know, connect with people in the same room and shake each other's hands and give each other hugs and get to meet each other in person. And I was like, how are we going to be able to get anywhere near that with a livestream, but I was wrong because although a live stream is completely different and sure you can't duplicate that in-person connection. There are certain things that we've been able to do with this live stream that we would have never been able to in person, which is reached the amount of people we reached this year. And, you know, it's hard for me to say exactly how many, but what I can tell you is that, you know, we've had, as, you know, over a thousand people tune in to just like one of our many Feeling Through Experiences we've done. So to have like a thousand people on a livestream, and have people writing in the chat box telling us where they're tuning in from all across the world is an amazing experience. And something that you can't do in person, you can't have, I mean, you could probably find a theater to fit a thousand people, but you couldn't have people, you know, from 45 different States and 12 different countries like we did on our very first live stream of the Feeling Through Experience, which was just an astounding thing to see how we could connect people from all around the world through one experience. So it's been really a pleasure and an honor to be able to share this with you virtually we're very much looking forward to the time where we can get back and do this in person, but until then, it's, it's really been amazing. You know, Carol Brill just commented, is saying nice things in Facebook. And Carol is someone who is an Ireland who I connected with during this time. And, you know, I was able to do a Feeling Through Live episode with her, me sitting here in Los Angeles, California, her in I believe in the Dublin area of Ireland. I don't know if it was specifically there, sorry, Carol. I forgot exactly where you were, but in Ireland. And how amazing is that, you know, when we're talking about a platform where the goal is to build as big of a community as we can around topics like human connection, Deaf-Blind awareness, what better way than to connect with people all around the world. So it's been really, really special and, you know, something that is an added dimension as we move forward, that we're even when we get back to in-person experiences, we're, we're not going to want to lose the ability to connect with people virtually as well as well. So that's been such an awesome thing. And, you know, again, as far as looking back at the numbers, it's hard to say exactly how many people we've reached, but I think if you add up, you know, all of the views from our Feeling Through Live episodes, across all the platforms and all of the views from our Feeling Through experiences virtually, you know, it's definitely well over 350,000 views. As far as how many people that is a hard to say, but it's a lot, many, many tens of thousands of people, I'm sure. And that's been a really just, you know, silver, if you will, or even more so than the silver lining of this year. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna take a quick pause for an interpreter switch here. All right. And continuing here. So again, if you're just tuning in and confused, why you just see me on the screen without a guest, Steven was meant to join me today. He was having a little bit of technical difficulties, but this has just turned into an AMA and ask me anything. So if you're watching and you're curious about anything that, you know, Feeling Through related, whether it's, you know, things screenings we've done or episodes of Feeling Through live we've done, or what our plans are for next year, please feel free to chime in and ask. But in the meantime, I'm going to just continue telling you a little bit about this year and what we have planned for the future. Anyway, even if you don't ask. But actually Nilam is, is asking a question. And for those of you who aren't familiar Nilam joined me on this platform a couple of weeks ago, and I highly recommend you go back and watch her episode. It's really amazing. And she's an amazing person. And she asks what has been the most important learning with the Feeling Through Live or experience event? That's a great question. I mean, there's so many things that I've learned throughout this process, but the first thing that pops out in my mind, I'm going to actually go back to the very first in-person Feeling Through Experience that we did in Cary, North Carolina. And at that time, you know, we were screening, Feeling the Feeling Through Experience publicly for the very first time. So we had not gotten any feedback from anyone outside of the project. And at that point, you, you never know what people are gonna think of something until you start showing it to them. It was really important to me that it was something that the Deaf-Blind community was proud of and wanted to get behind. But at that point, I didn't know how anyone was going to feel about it, let alone the Deaf-Blind community, and- Oh that's funny, Nilam says she used to live in Cary, North Carolina. Well, that's a funny coincidence there. But at that screening, during the panel discussion and Q and A portion, one of the very first people that stood up was a man who was Deaf-Blind. And he said that he loved the film. He thought it was really moving and really loved this story, but moreover he loved the, the accessibility we were providing for him to be able to experience it. And he said, and I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but it was pretty close to something like, you know, people assume that because I am Deaf-Blind, I wouldn't care to go to the movies, but I love this. I love coming out to the movies. I just never had the opportunity to have the accessibility like you're providing today in order to experience it fully. And that was such a, such an amazing aha moment in the sense that yes, of course we, we were providing that accessibility because we wanted people to have the, you know, we wanted everyone to be able to have the experience, but it's different hearing it from the mouth of someone who's sharing, why it's important to them. And that was such a, that's when it became, you know, something that I understood up here to something that I understood here. And I'm pointing first to my head and then to my heart, because that's when it really dropped in really truly why accessibility particularly, you know, from, from a film screening standpoint is so important because there's so many people that want to be able to have the experience that everyone else has when they go out to the movies that never have that opportunity and really want it. And everyone should have that opportunity. It's such an amazing thing to be able to do, to go out and experience a live a live event. And to hear that as like one of the very first comments that someone from the Deaf-Blind community said about the experience was, was a moment I'll certainly never forget. And something that is really fueled, you know, a lot of what we've done over the last year. But there's so many other things that I've learned and, you know, we, we've learned, I've learned a lot about accessibility, you know, virtually as well throughout this process, and know that it's something that I really hope that a lot of the gatekeepers, like, you know, the, the platforms like the YouTubes and the Facebooks and, and places where we share a lot of content start to really focus more on accessibility and really prioritize it more because I know I still have my gripes about those platforms and the things that I feel like they should be doing that they're not yet. And I think there's a lot, there's so many people out there that would benefit from greater accessibility on those platforms. And especially at a time, like now where so many of us have been connecting virtually, and really relying on these platforms to be able to connect and to inform ourselves of what's going on. It's so important for that accessibility to be there. So, Nancy, hi, Nancy. So, so glad you're joining us again. Nancy asks do you see opportunities for the blind community and fitting film production roles? I'm inspired by the live streams have expanded possibilities and outreach and Nancy that's great question. You know, we're, we're really committed on this platform to a lot of the awareness that we're generating is not just for people to have a better we're standing and connection to the Deaf-Blind community, but also, so that they'll very specifically in the, in say the film industry will consider hiring Deaf blind actors, and also people were Deaf blind behind the camera. You know, I think the next thing that I'll be focused on down the line will be, how do we create infrastructures that allow people who are Deaf blind to tell their own stories in film and TV and other mediums and how can, and we support that. You know, I very fortunately right now in Hollywood, there's a lot more attention put on how do we support marginalized communities telling their own stories. And I think that's something that, you know, we've often said on this platform, there's virtually no representation of it, Deaf, blind community and film and TV, or really any media at all. And it, you know, Feeling Through the start or part of that start, right? We're not the only thing out there, but, you know, Robert's the only Deaf-Blind actor to start a film. We definitely are committed to making the feature, the film version of Feeling Through, but moreover, how can, when we create infrastructures that support people who are Deaf-Blind telling their own stories, and that's, you know, definitely still in the early stages of figuring that out, obviously that takes a lot of resources. So that's something that as I connect with people, you know, it's something that I'll definitely Trop in a lot of conversations too, to see who the allies are on that vision and how we can come together and mobilize to fulfill that vision. But that's, that's where we're headed. That's where we need to head. And it's been echoed by or said by a lot of people on this platform, a lot of amazing people in the disability community who have joined me on this platform and spoken much more eloquently and intelligently about that subject than myself, but that's really where we need to head. And, you know, I'm really confident that we'll be able to play at least some part in that here in the, on the Feeling Through platform. And I know that there's a lot of other amazing people out there working hard to create those opportunities as well. So that's what I think it's most important, but you know, what, something that we're really excited about coming up in this upcoming year is that, well, first and foremost, we're really working on getting feeling throughout to more people. We've as many people as we've gotten to reach this year, we hope to reach a lot more in, in the start of 2021. And, you know, for those of you who follow our social channels, we started a #FeelingThrough and #ForYourConsideration campaign. We'd love you joined in. And I know sometimes, you know, I'll be fully honest. I feel a little funny making those asks, sometimes asking people to, you know, hold up this picture of a piece of paper that says hashtag Feeling Through and a hashtag for your consideration and, you know, posting that on, on social media, but it honestly really goes a long way in helping us spread the word about this and, and turning on people who maybe aren't familiar with, and so, if you're sitting around over the next couple of weeks over these holidays and maybe have a little downtime, you know, please consider joining in. If you go to any of our social channels at Feeling Through, you'll find a lot of examples of people who have been doing it if you fall. And if you follow the hashtag Feeling Through, you'll see a lot of people it's really simple. Just take a piece of paper, write hashtag Feeling Through hashtag for your consideration and take a picture posted on your social media and make sure you write those hashtags in the text of the post too. And it's going to help us just ripple this outward. And, you know, there are specific reasons why we're doing this. If you're not familiar with what for your consideration means, you can do a quick Google search and figure it out. We're not really at liberty to talk specifically about it at this stage. We can really kind of only say for your consideration, but, you know, there are huge goals that we have for the top of 2021 platforms that we're hoping to be a part of recognition that we're hoping to gain that will really help us spread this, you know Feeling Through and the message of Deaf-Blind awareness and accessibility and human connection to many more people. So everyone that joins in and really helps us get there. It really takes a community. It's a team effort. There've been so many people that have been a part of the Feeling Through family to get to where we are now. And it's going to take all those people in more to take it to more people and have more of an impact. Nancy, I will post an example of that. I can't really kind of do it, how I'm set up right now, but if you look at our previous posts on our Facebook page, or if you've just type in hashtag Feeling Through, you'll see it pop up, you'll see people who've done it, and I'll be posting about it again on our social media later today. But yeah, if you're just, if you're not already follow our social media and you'll, you'll see plenty of examples over the next coming, coming weeks. So kind of to move to another topic, that's been a really amazing new dimension of Feeling Through that started up really in the last couple months, because Alondra, I see, you're asking an amazing question here of a lot of asks, what's your favorite thing about sharing the experience in school? And for those of you who don't know, we've started to share the Feeling Through experience with schools. We've shared it with some middle schools. We've shared it with some hikes the schools, and it's been really amazing to, to share this experience with the younger for generations. You know, part of the origin story we have all of this was that, you know, at 27 years old, when I met Artemio, you know, it wasn't until I was 27 that I was really thinking about the Deaf-Blind community for the very first time and meeting someone who was Deaf blind for the very first time. And I wanted to make sure people didn't get to the ripe old age of 27, like me before they really got to connect with and understand this amazing diverse community in the Deaf-Blind community. So we've been sharing the experience virtually of course with schools and, you know, most recently, you know, shout out to Schreiber high school. And Dr. Pernick, who's the, who's the principal there. And Mara Silverstein who runs the Ed Foundation, who helped bring the Feeling Through experience to Schreiber high school, but something that was so cool is that we were able to Schreiber high school made Feeling the Feeling Through experience curriculum for all 1600 of their high schoolers. So what they did is that they played the short film Feeling Through in all 66 of their English classes. And then we did four grade wide assemblies with each, you know, grades nine through 12, where we played the supporting documentary, Connecting the Dots, and then had a panel discussion and Q and A with myself, Robert Tarango, our actor, and Feeling Through, and also Chris would fill the associate executive director of Helen Keller national center. And it was so amazing to share the experience with this entire high school. They had great questions. They told us how moved and informed they were by the experience. And it's really, you know, it was really a fulfillment of one of our highest goals when we set out to start sharing the Feeling Through experience to have that kind of impact at a high school, and then also in a community because after they screened it for the whole high school, they did a community-wide screening too for port, which happens to be where Helen Keller national center is located. So to have that kind of impact on a community, to have it something be something where, you know, 1600 high school students experience it and then get to share it with their families is the kind of impact that we set out and want it to have at the beginning of this, but to have that be fulfilled such an amazing thing and such a great way to, to be wrapping up 2020, we're really, we're excited to share the experience with more schools in 2021. And if you're an educator who's watching this, or, you know, you have close friends or family members who are educators, you know, feel free to have them reach out to us or feel free to reach out to us, yourself@infoatfeelingthrough.com. And we'd love to talk about bringing the experience to, to your school and your community as well. So that's been, that's been something that's been really amazing. And you know, one of the other things in looking forward to 2021, another huge goal for us is we are dead set on making the feature film version of Feeling Through. You know, something that is pretty consistent when we screened the film, as people want to know what happens next, you know, what happens to Tariq, what happens to RD? Do they ever see each other again? And these are the types of things we, we love to hear because we love to hear that you want to know more about what happens, and you know, that it moved you in that you, you enjoyed the, the experience of watching the film. So we, we definitely are in, we have that, you know, we're slowly but surely developing the feature film version of Feeling Through, and I'm really look forward to having that ready to go and start connecting with the right entities to get it made, you know, something that was really integral to making the short film and something that will be really important when we make the features. We're definitely gonna want to continue to make it alongside the community and also be able to include a lot more of the community during, throughout the process of making it. So it's going to be an amazing opportunity to have more people from the Deaf-Blind community involved in the making of the story and something that we're really excited about. We don't quite know how we're going to make it yet, or, you know, where you know, who we're going to make it with, but I will also say that, you know, if you are someone out there who is interested in helping make that a reality, we'd love to hear from you as well. My dream is to have someone who has the financial means and the connection to the community or understanding of the importance of film, like Feeling Through to help finance the film. I'd love to be able to do it with the community so that we're not beholden to someone else's vision of it so that we can make it exactly in the way that we want to make it. So if you are that person or, you know, someone like that, please feel free to reach out to us. That would be an ideal way to make this and to make it the way in a way in which we know it will have not only the best representation of the Deaf-Blind community and the best involvement of the Deaf-Blind community, but also have the biggest impact. So that's our hope for 2021. And, you know, we're, we're ready to make it a reality very soon. But while I continue here, I'm going to take, I know I'm like talking a mile a minute here, so I'm going to do one more interpreter switch before we close out this today's episode.
All right. Continuing here. Definitely giving our amazing interpreters of workout today. I'm going into a New Yorker fast-talking mode because I'm all by myself today. So, trying to take a deep breath and slow myself down a little bit here, but yeah, you know, for all of you who are watching today and watching this unique impromptu solo episode, thank you so much. And I know a lot of you are, are people tuned into many previous episodes and are a real integral part of our community. And this isn't just lip service. Like I really mean this when I say a huge, thank you and deep gratitude to all of you who have supported us each step of the way, you know, quite literally this could not happen without you, the whole point of, of doing Feeling Through Live and sharing these virtual experiences is to have people like you, and your friends and family and other people out there experience it. And, and without you, it's meaningless really, if there's not anyone there to participate in it. So thank you all for tuning in for sharing information about our live streams, for liking our posts, and for really an asking great questions during these live streams, it's really made it what it is. And it's really been a joy to be able to connect with so many of you, you know, for any of you who ha have missed some of our previous episodes of Feeling Through Live. We have all of them on our Facebook page, but I find it easier to watch them back on our YouTube channel, which is youtube.com/feelingthrough. We have all of our previous episodes up on there, and some really, really tremendous ones. So I would encourage you to go back and watch some of our previous episodes. If you haven't checked those out and we'll be bringing some more right after the holidays, we're taking our first break here since we started 35 weeks ago to take off for Christmas and new year, but we'll be back at the top of the year talking to some more amazing people. And we'll be letting you all know about it and would love for you to tune in then as well. And yeah, it's been such a fun, fun, fun thing, and such an amazing thing to share during a year that otherwise has been really hard for a lot of people so, we hope it's brought you some relief or some joy, during what's been a tough time for a lot of people. And hello Coffey, thanks for joining us today out. Coffey has a question, but Coffey is one of the amazing actors in Feeling Through, he plays the homeless man who, who has a very integral part in the narrative there. And he also is an amazing advocate. He's done a lot of amazing work, you know, pertaining to Black Lives Matter. He's part of a running group. I'm sorry, Coffey. Tell me what it's called again. Cause I forgot the name of it, but where he gets together, huge masses of people to run together, and to have these real communal events talking about current issues that are really important. A lot of what's around Black Lives Matter. That's been amazing and really inspirational for me to partake with, from afar and also has an amazing film called about the people that you should look up that has... I encourage you to look it up. It's, it's an amazing film that has amazing actors, and is a really timely, important message that pertains to, to current issues that affect all of us. So I encourage you all to check that out, but Coffey asks, when will you be screening the film again? That's a great question. We'll definitely be figuring out something for January. Part of our 'for your consideration' campaign will include some live streams for press and also anyone else who wants to tune in. So right now I think we will be doing something in mid January will be the next opportunity, but we'll be posting about it on our socials. And also I encourage if you're not already, sign up for a mailing list@feelingthrough.com, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you'll just see a prompt to put in your name and email address, and we will be blasting out all the important information through, through that email. And there's also an opportunity. There'll be an opportunity to watch it as part of the slam dance film festival in mid February. And if you go to slam dances, a website, which I think is slim dance dot it's, either .com or- slamdance.com, from now until I believe the end of the month, you can sign up for free passes for that film festival. And you'll be able to watch Feelings Through as a part of the Fest of that festival. And, you know, for those of you who aren't familiar with slam dance, it's an amazing thing. The festival it's one of the best festivals in the country and they really are great at supporting filmmakers and something that's very cool about the festival this year is that they are really highlighting disability in film. They have a new block of films called unstoppable, which is about highlighting disability and film, which Feeling Through as a part of, and, you know, kudos to Slam Dance for recommends now using that and prioritizing that in their lineup this year. That's really great. And yeah, we're, we're hoping for a lot more of that coming up. So, you know, thankfully there's starting to be more attention around representation of the disability community in film and TV. There's a very long way to go. But people are really starting to, to take that more seriously. And, you know, a film that I saw recently, and if any of you watched it, I'm curious, tell me in the chat, your thoughts about it, but it's called Sound of Metal, starting Riz Ahmed, and it's a film that follows a punk drummer who loses his hearing. And I was really impacted by that film. There are a lot of Deaf actors in that film, but also it's ultimately a film about identity, and someone kind of learning to find themselves having lost, you know, what they thought their identity was, which is a, a punk drummer, which he can't do anymore after he loses his hearing. And there's this wonderful, the middle of the film is about him connecting with a Deaf community, and learning about the Deaf community and really embracing the Deaf community. And I was really moved by that section of the film. I'm wondering for people who are a part of the Deaf community, if you've seen it, if you thought that it was an accurate reflection of the Deaf community and your thoughts about it, I'd love to hear, but I was really moved by that and they also do some really amazing things with the sound design to really put the viewer really viscerally inside of them, the experience of the protagonist as he loses his hearing, which I also thought was really effecting, and a really interesting use of sound design that I hadn't really seen before. So yeah, if any of you have watched that I'd love to hear your thoughts. I thought it was really great, and something that's really cool as we move into the award season. Coming up in early 2021, you know, another film that I know that there's been a lot of buzz about for the award season that was so great this past year, is the documentary Crip Camp, which I believe is still streaming on Netflix, that follows this camp in the, I believe it was the in the seventies, that was for kids with disabilities, really the first of its kind. And in having building this community where there were so many people with disabilities that were being, feeling like they were around people who understood them and embraced them and were like them for the first time, there was a whole movement that was born out of that, really led directly to the Americans with disabilities act. It's an amazing film, and certainly hoping that it does well during the award season coming up.
So those are some really cool examples of films from this past year that touch on topics about the disability community, and include a lot of people with disabilities in them looking, you know, looking forward to a lot more stories like that in 2021 and beyond. We hope to be a part of that with Feeling Through the feature film and just some closing thoughts here, as we wrap up our live streams for 2020. And looking ahead at 2021, I just want to reiterate my sincere thanks and gratitude to all of you who have tuned in during this past year, it's been a tremendous honor to be able to connect with all of you to share the Feeling Through Experience with you and, and to, you know, share in this platform of Feeling Through Live, where we've gotten to talk to so many amazing people, so are really, really appreciate it. And please if you can join in our awareness campaign that we just launched, if you can go to our social media you can see an example of this. I'll be posting more about it, but you'll, you'll see that it's really quite simple. All you gotta do is take a piece of paper, write hashtag Feeling Through on it, and then hashtag for your consideration below that, hold it up, snap a picture. If you want to hold up the, I love you sign. That's fun to do too. And when you post it on your social media, just make sure to hashtag it Feeling Through and hashtag for your consideration. And that's the next step of us spreading this out wider and connecting with more people and, putting us in position, hopefully for some exciting opportunities in, in 2021.
So without further ado, I'm going to sign off your, thank you for bearing with the technical difficulties we had at the top of this episode. And I hope I didn't bore you too much just hearing from me this, this for the majority of this episode. But we're looking forward to picking back up, I believe our first, let me just check the calendar here, but oops, I just did something funny, but I believe it will be January 8th will be our first Feeling Through Live back, but I'll be posting about it. So once again, have a very happy holidays. Let's close out 2020 strong and, to an amazing 2021 ahead, that's already showing some promising signs of changing the tide of 2020. So thank you all and have a tremendous rest of your year. Happy holidays, everyone.