Intelligent Lives Movie

I watched the movie entitled "Intelligent Lives" at the local theatre. It was a very well done movie, and I recommend it to everyone because it gives deep insight into the lives of three individuals with passion, drive, and special needs. The movie takes us as the audience directly into the lives of Naomie, Naieer, and Micah, and their stories show us what it is like to live with special needs. It shows their accomplishments and how they are not limited by their special needs labels. It focuses heavily on what they are able to do and that they are just like everyone else, and their families treat them similarly to every other family (except with a little more compassion, I think). This movie is worth a watch!!

I think my biggest takeaway from seeing this movie is that, with the right amount of help, people who have special needs can thrive and live fulfilling lives just as everyone else does. Each person made their own success - Naomie works at Empire Beauty School, Micah has graduated college and gotten a job in his field, and Naieer is on track to go to college for his passion of art. Their labels did not hold them back from following their dreams. I think this is such an important thing to stress to the world in general. I think the movie would be harder to understand for younger kids, but I think it would do others good to see the movie. I think it would help people become more open-minded and compassionate for the amazing individuals in our world with special needs. They can be intelligent!! That was stressed in the movie as well. Intelligence just looks different for different people. I learned from this movie how people with special needs integrate into adulthood. It was not something I knew about going into the movie initially. Naomie started as an assistant at Empire, for instance. Micah had a support group that helped him stand strong and find his job. I feel I learned so much from just watching this movie in the theatre for 70 minutes.

This movie relates to what we are learning in my Exceptional Learners class because currently, we are being taught to focus on the able, not the label. We are told to put the person first before his or her disability. The movie shows this idea so well. It does not pity the individuals or discuss what they cannot do. The movie is very empowering and shows that each individual has a gift, passion, drive, and personality - their disabilities do not define them. In my future classroom, I will get to know my students and focus on their "ables." I will not pity them or talk down to them. I will talk to them as I would with my other students, but I will offer more help if they need it. My main goal is to not judge them based on their labels and to rather focus on the students themselves. I think this movie has opened my eyes to a lot more about special education/needs, and the lessons I learned from it are lessons I will not soon forget.