Susan's Blog

Saturday, May 10, 2014

PBS World’s Airing of “Rachel Is”

Here is the link to the 90 minute PBS World show “America Reframed,” which aired the documentary Rachel Is last Tuesday night, May 6, 1014. Rachel is an intellecutally disabled 21-year-old about to graduate from school. She and her mother are working very hard to find her independence in the form of housing, but it is a struggle. The relationship between Rachel and her mom often are severely strained, which is what makes this film worth watching — the honesty in filmmaker Charlotte Glynn’s style makes you stop breathing sometimes, cringe other times, and always cheer for the family. After the documentary (60 mins long) there is a conversation between NY Times Reporter Amy Harmon and me, with the host Natasha Del Toro. Take a look; the link will only be good until August! Enjoy.

posted at 6:34 am 2 comments

2 comments

Thanks for sharing the link. Just watched the whole thing including the interview at the end. I thought it was great. Rachel was very compelling, and had a lot of skills. There were hard parts for me though.

Some of the interactions (or lack thereof) was hard to see. I think that’s the part of our kids living somewhere else that slays me. For my daughter Ashley… will she really have folks (staff) that are paying attention, watching, interceding, caring… and dare I say, loving her. And that’s the short list!
Surreal and very compelling!
PS. You did a geat job, (per-usual!)

— added by Lauri Medeiros on Saturday, May 10, 2014 at 9:26 am

Thank you, Lauri!

— added by Susan Senator on Monday, May 12, 2014 at 6:18 am