Michael McDonald, an author and filmmaker, has had a mixture of both on his journey around the world documenting life in 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 communities.
He fell into filmmaking by accident through , a network of 131 communities worldwide in which people with and without developmental disabilities share their lives together.
For more than a decade, McDonald has lived in 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 communities from Kenya to France, where it was founded by the Catholic theologian and humanitarian Jean Vanier in 1964. In that time, he has made lifelong friends and learned a lot about his own humanity.
鈥淭he 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 mission isn鈥檛 about disability. The 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 mission is about relationship,鈥� McDonald explained. 鈥淧eople with disabilities, across all cultures, are among the most crushed and pushed down wherever you go, and I can say that because I鈥檝e been to the six continents and interviewed people.鈥�
McDonald has told their stories through As I Am, a 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 International video series that looks at 12 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 residents. The 31-year-old filmmaker shared some of his experiences at a Feb. 6 fundraiser for the Edmonton chapter.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app a place where you go to start to unknow what you鈥檝e learned in society,鈥� McDonald said. 鈥淲hat you do might not be that important. Who you are, kindness, these things are really valuable. But also guts. It does take a lot of guts to be doing things in a way that is so counter-cultural.鈥�
Growing up in South Bend, Ind., McDonald had an experience as a child that shattered his own notions of disability. It came in 1999 when he was in Grade 4 and had to volunteer in the community as part of his school curriculum.
His dad Fran chose the Logan Center, which provides services for people with intellectual disabilities.
鈥淲hen I got there, there was a woman waiting for me. She said, 鈥楳ichael, you鈥檙e going to spend the day with a woman named Claire and she鱿鱼视频app going to be very different than most adults that you鈥檝e met. She doesn鈥檛 walk with her legs. And when you speak to her and she speaks to you, you probably won鈥檛 understand what she鱿鱼视频app saying.鈥�
鈥淎fter the day ended, I got in the car, looked up at my dad and said, 鈥業鈥檓 not going back.鈥�
鈥淢y dad said words that I鈥檝e never forgotten. He said, 鈥極K Michael, you can keep going back until it no longer feels weird.鈥�
鈥淟ater he told me, 鈥榊ou thought it felt weird because you thought your humanity and her humanity were different. But I knew if you kept going, she would teach you otherwise.鈥� And she did.鈥�
Little did McDonald know it would set him on a path for his life and career in 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别.
At Notre Dame, McDonald studied the writings of 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 founder Vanier and Henri Nouwen, the priest, writer and theologian who left academia to live at 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 Daybreak in Richmond Hill, Ont., the first 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 community in Canada.
In 2007, McDonald was captivated when he heard Vanier speak in Washington, D.C.. Reflecting on Notre Dame鱿鱼视频app lesson to all of its students 鈥� to answer the question, 鈥淲here is the school of the heart?鈥� 鈥� he realized he needed to act on his faith.
One of his assignments landed him in in Kenya, where he ghost-wrote four books on 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别. In 2013 he obtained his master鱿鱼视频app degree in peace studies at Notre Dame and, with the university鱿鱼视频app help, returned to Kenya to start a radio program there, telling the stories of the disabled.
鈥淚 made a little video to announce the radio project, and that video was actually more popular than the radio project,鈥� McDonald explained. 鈥淲ithin two weeks it had been viewed in 80 countries. I got an e-mail from the United Nations. They told me they would show it at their headquarters. All of a sudden that was when the door of film was opened.鈥�
After that, the requests for film projects flooded in. McDonald demurred but 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 insisted.
With no formal video training, McDonald said Louis Pilotte 鈥� now the national leader of 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 Canada 鈥� told him: 鈥溾�榊ou have the sense of 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别. All that technical stuff is not as important to me.鈥� It鱿鱼视频app a very 尝鈥橝谤肠丑别 move because it鱿鱼视频app irresponsible. It鱿鱼视频app crazy.
鈥淛ean Vanier鱿鱼视频app big thing was 鈥楽ociety doesn鈥檛 see the gifts inside of you. We鈥檙e going to create a place where everyone is going to give you a standing ovation for those gifts. Even if you don鈥檛 see them yet, through relationships, through time, they鈥檒l come to grow.鈥� 鈥�
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