LIVES WORTH LIVING

PREMIERES ON THE PBS SERIES INDEPENDENT LENS

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2011

Powerful Documentary Chronicles the History of America’s Disability Rights Movement

Hosted by Mary-Louise Parker

While there are close to 50 million Americans living with disabilities, Lives Worth Living is the first television history of their decades-long struggle for equal rights. Produced and directed by Eric Neudel, Lives Worth Living is a window into a world inhabited by people with an unwavering determination to live their lives like everyone else, and a look back into a past when millions of Americans lived without access to schools, apartment buildings, and public transportation – a way of life unimaginable today. Lives Worth Living premieres on the Emmy® Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens, on Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 10 PM (check local listings).

Lives Worth Living traces the development of the disability rights movement from its beginning following World War II, when thousands of disabled veterans returned home, through its burgeoning in the 1960s and 1970s, when it began to adopt the tactics of other social movements. Told through interviews with the movement’s pioneers, legislators, and others, Lives Worth Living explores how Americans with a wide variety of disabilities — including the blind, deaf, mentally, and physically challenged — banded together to change public perception and policy. Through demonstrations and legislative battles, the disability rights community finally secured equal civil rights with the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, one of the most transformative pieces of civil rights legislation in American history.

To learn more about the film, and the issues involved, visit the film’s companion website at www.pbs.org/independentlens/. Get detailed information on the film, watch preview clips, read an interview with the filmmaker, and explore the subject in depth with links and resources. The site also features a Talkback section, where viewers can share their ideas and opinions.

About the Participants, in Order of Appearance

Fred Fay, early leader in the disability rights movement (1944 – 2011)

Ann Ford, director of the Illinois National Council on Independent Living

Judy Heumann, leading disability rights activist

Judi Chamberlin, Mental Patients Liberation Front, a movement for the rights and dignity of people with mental illness (1944-2010)

Dr. William Bronston, former staff physician at the notorious Willowbrook State School who was dismissed after agitating for change

Bob Kafka, established ADAPT of Texas, a disability rights advocacy organization

Zona Roberts, counselor, UC Berkeley's Physically Disabled Students’ Program and Center for Independent Living, Berkeley; mother of disability rights pioneer Ed Roberts

Pat Wright, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund

John Wodatch, Chief, Disability Rights Section, Civil Rights Division, U. S. Department of Justice

Jack Duncan, Former Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives

Mary Jane Owen, disability rights activist, philosopher, policy expert, and writer

Marca Bristo, CEO, Access Living and leader in the disability rights movement

Michael Winter, former director, Berkeley Center for Independent Living

Lex Frieden, former director, National Council on the Handicapped

Dr. I. King Jordan, President Emeritus, Gallaudet University

Jeff Rosen, alumni leader, Gallaudet University

Senator Tom Harkin, (D-Iowa)

Bobby Silverstein, Chief Counsel, Senate Subcommittee on Disability Policy

Richard Thornburgh, US Attorney General, 1988-1991

Tony Coelho, former Congressman, House Majority Whip, 1986-1989

About the Filmmaker

Eric Neudel (Producer/Director) has produced, directed, and edited numerous award-winning films for public television. His many credits include Eyes on the Prize, AIDS: Chapter One, LBJ Goes to War, Tet 1968, Steps, After the Crash, The Philippines and The US: In Our Image, Body and Soul, and more. He was a visiting senior critic and lecturer in film at Yale University and served as producer, director, and editor for Harvard University’s Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, and Spectrum Media’s program series on the art and craft of teaching. Neudel was also a photographer and video production consultant, teaching video production to a team working for the Compass Project in Malawi. Photographs from his two years in Malawi were exhibited in the Sandra and Phillip Gordon Gallery at The Boston Arts Academy in October 2007.

He also served as story consultant for Row Hard No Excuses, an award-winning documentary about two middle aged American men who set out to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat. Most recently he served as a photographer in Rwanda for The Boston Globe, where he directed, produced, and edited a companion documentary about the Maranyundo Middle School, which was built on the site of one of the worst concentration camps and killing fields in Rwanda.

About Independent Lens

What follows is a rough transcript drafted live at AASHE2011. A video of the keynote session during which this announcement was made will be available in the near future.

Presenter: Mark Orlowski - Sustainable Endowments Institute

Good morning everyone. Thank you AASHE.

What I'm about to show you is the product of 2 years of work. With our 14 partner organizations, we are pleased to announce the launch of the Billion Dollar Green Challenge. It challenges institution to invest a total of $1 billion in self-managed green revolving funds on energy efficiency upgrades.

The green revolving loan fund turns what are generally considered costs (energy bills) into highly profitable investments. They are called revolving funds because the projects are lent money and then the projects repay the loans through cost savings.

I'm pleased to announce that 32 institutions have already signed on. Please join me in welcoming the representatives from those institutions. (applause) These institutions have already commit to investing $65 million in energy efficiency revolving loan funds at their institutions. The institutions range widely in size and type.

We are creating a project library and best practices and other resources to support the initiative.

Now I'd like to invite our advisory council on stage. (applause) This group has been having monthly meetings since early 2010.

A special thanks to AASHE which has been tremendously supportive. And our foundation sponsors, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Kresge Foundation.

There will be a special lunch session about the challenge on Tuesday, Oct 11th. Come learn more.

This is a big challenge. We hope you'll join us.

Thanks to Alexa Bakker for transcribing this session! Join the AASHE 2011 Transcription Project and help spread the great ideas presented at the conference!

Presenters:
Peggy F. Barlett, Emory University
Anna Prizzia, University of Florida

(Peggy)
Research over past 3-4 years on 30 campuses of varying sizes. Direct marketing (farmers markets, CSA's). Education.

Research comes from academic debates.

Need intent and capacity. First step is rhetoric. What is your rhetoric?

What is your intent?
-Pesticide use, water pollution, etc.
-Social issues: local farm purchase, fair wages and labor, etc.
-Health Issues: Diet, antibiotic resistance, nutrition

1. Food Service Goals
   -Sustainability-related criteria vary
   -Farming practices, what is local

Campuses make claims but don't back up with proof. Need accountability and transparency

Tweak menu, make seasonal, healthier meal choices, meatless reduce costs

Kitchen Practices
-In-house preparation
-Food preservation
-Certifications of green practices
-Green foodservice alliance certifications
-Attention to composting and use of waste (i.e. biodiesel)

1. Academic Programs
   -Undergraduate Concentrations
   -Graduate
   -Courses

Co-curriculum

1. Direct Marketing
   -Farmers markets and CSA's
   -Shift awareness of consumer and producer

2. Experiential Learning
   -Mental worker as opposed to physical worker
   -Campus farms

(Anna)

We know this is a global issue. Over a quarter of land use is in agriculture, over a billion starving, etc.

At University of Florida (UF)…
-Over 4,000 customers served daily in two dining halls alone
-Over 40 location with 1,000+ employees (600+ students)

Contacts are Key
-Get sustainability goals put into contact
-Figure out how to incorporate language into the ITN/Bid Process
-Be a part of the negotiation committee if possible
-Don't forget the "outliers" - vending, beverages, concessions

At UF local sourcing was stressed in campuses partially because it was measurable

Where is UF Now?
-Vegan stations for every meal in Dining Hall
-Meatless Monday (though not completely meat-free) was student-initiated
-Locally-sourced milk
-25-30% of food budget goes to local sources
-Monterey Bay Seafood Watch
-Natural Selections Catering Menu

Telling the story
-Highlight farmers and miles to your cup on posters in dining hall
-Externally it has gone well, but internally less so

Not Just Food Sourcing
-Wages, Energy/carbon, tray less/reusable to-go, composting(new)/recycling, no styrofoam or bags (soon)
-Just because it's not easy, doesn't mean it's impossible!

Other Opportunities
-Vending - nutrition labeling, energy, waste, sustainable foods, local purchasing
-Concessions - waste, catering, bulk condiments, on-demand straws and paper straws

Reaching Beyond the Dining Hall
-CSA drop-off point with local farmers

Being a Land Grant
-Curriculum - teaching garden, plant sciences major, food systems class
-Campus gardens
-Research - community food systems, climate change, water
-Service, Outreach, & Extension - PREC, Sustainable Floridians, County Offices

Beyond the Campus
-Florida Food Summit - safe place for balanced communication, relationship building, another summit soon
-Farm to Restaurant - support through sponsorship and attend every year
-Community Forum - How do we talk about the fact that no one wants to go into farming anymore? How do we inspire farming? How do we talk about a recent incidence of slavery on a farm?
-Institutional Advancement

Moving Beyond Low Hanging Fruit (literally)
-Triple Bottom Line Thinking
-Building Awareness - student, staff, and faculty and the community at large; developing the right messages, reaching diverse audiences
-Increasing Academic Involvement - growing support
-Long-range planning

Q: How do you get contacted workers to care about sustainability
A: We hired a sustainability person. Also, I pay attention… I bought a meal plan and eat in the dining halls. I don't use the language in the contract, I just let them know that sustainability is important and that's not going away

Q: Does UF or Emory have a biodiesel program?
A: Yes, at Emory we used cooking oil to make all of our shuttles use a portion of biodiesel. 20% biodiesel buses at UF.

Q: How do you work around liability and mandate challenges?
A: UF has a million dollar liability policy which sounds big but really isn't. Had presentation on what food safety requirements mean so that producers and farmers wouldn't be so scared. Also, they talked to people in the state about cooperatives to work around funding problems. Pilot programs to fix "broken" models.

Q: Open partnership and contract is important so that you can grow the program. Have a university person representing the program and evolving the partnership. Don't let institutions hid behind contracts and make excuses. Form partnerships with people in the community who act as distributers/middlemen in getting food from small, local sources.
A: Yes, willingness of directors is important.

Q: Dining director was concerned about price of oil and ability to purchase foods. Engaged students in calculations. Who is doing long-range calculations and research on this topic?
A: Don't have an answer. We've done back-of-the envelope calculations as well.

Q: They first tell us it's impossible, but then when we push we find it really is possible even with national brands (styrofoam). National brands have to procure 20% sustainable food by 2020. Would like to hear more stories about success against road blocks in a central location.
A: Airmark highlights best practices at AASHE.

Comment: At Michigan State they are approaching 50% local/regional sources. Now have recycling plant. Has hired a company to look at best practices. Submitted top 100 food sources so it can be calculated.

Q: With the franchises, what challenges and successes have you had?
A: No success stories at Emory except for fair trade coffee at bagel company, but inconsistent. Only coffee composting and waste conversation at UF. Will probably take national conversation for change. Business services offices manage vendor/franchise relationships so get them on your side.

Q: Any examples of state system initiating negotiation and alliances.
A: Less of fresh product and more of napkins, etc. Extending contract opportunities to franchises.

Q: Did you have an issue licensing USDA certification and regulations if you used food from campus farms at dining.
A: At University of Illinois they've come close to selling produce to Whole Foods but were told that it was only ok as long as sold within campus boundaries.

Q: How to monitor student input?
A: Get students to fill out the survey. Need broad spectrum. Student advisory committee.

Q: Recently had a discussion future of the farm and relationship to local mental hospital. Bringing recently incarcerated people to the farm. Has there been any work like this at Emory or UF?
A: At Emory just starting academic connections to farming as well as nursing partnership. Starting to see a food systems network beginning to rise.

Q: Partnerships with student farms and cafes?
A: Partnership at Michigan State with student organic farm, getting composting, etc. UF doesn't have a student cafe on campus.

Q: To-go or buffet style dining?
A: UF has both.

Q: Have you done any work on reducing or eliminating the purchasing and selling of bottled water on campus?
A: Not much.

Emory spent a whole year compiling information sheets in a booklet entitled Eating Sustainably. Available for free use on website.