The Kids are All Right

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is a half-hour documentary about a renegade Jerry's Kid named Mike Ervin. A Muscular Dystrophy Association poster child in the 1960s, today Mike is an outspoken disability rights activist who challenges the MDA's representation of people with disabilities in its Labor Day telethon through his activist group, Jerry's Orphans.

Background

Charities have used poster children to raise money since the 1930s because it works. When people see a child with leg braces and crutches, they feel sorry and drop a coin in the jar or call in the pledge. But once the fundraising drive is over, that image of the poor little poster child lingers. The general public absorbs the idea that people with muscular dystrophy, or polio--really all people with disabilities--are pitiable victims who want and need nothing more than a big charity to take care of them. Or, better, to cure them. Mike calls this the charity mentality.

While the Jerry Lewis telethon may seem like a quaint relic to younger viewers, the reality is that both the charity mentality and the MDA's use of the "pity approach" to raise money seriously undermine the disability civil rights movement. The telethon routinely implies that the source of the problems people with disabilities face is their medical conditions and the answer to their problems is curing them. Millions of viewers tuned in every year and came away with the idea that people with disabilities need pity and charity rather than accessible public transportation and housing, employment opportunities and other civil rights that a democratic society should ensure for all its citizens.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT documents the history of Jerry's Orphans and three consecutive years of their local Chicago Telethon protests. The film contrasts outdated attitudes with a view into the real lives of people with disabilities today. The goal of THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is to raise consciousness about the subtle effects of pity, to empower people with disabilities to advocate for their own rights, and to inspire activism.

Collections

Center for Disabilities Studies, University of Delaware DE
Disability Law Center, Boston MA Museum of Disability History, Viscardi
Center, Buffalo NY National Center on Accessibility, Indiana University
Research Park IN Northern Arizona University College of Education AZ
Pickler Library, Truman State University MO
Syracuse University College of Law NY
University of Texas at Arlington Libraries TX
University of Wisconsin at Whitewater WI
Washington State University WA
York University Faculty of Education, Toronto ON Canada

Credits

Producer, Director, Editor: Kerry Richardson
Camera: Kerry Richardson, Steve Ciampaglia, Liz Miller, Mickey Mahoney
Additional Editing: Steven Ciampaglia
Original Score: Scott Lockard
Special Thanks To: Mike Ervin

Funding

Funding was provided by The Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media.
This project was partially supported by a grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.
Fiscal Sponsor: Chicago Filmmakers