Educational Media Reviews Online

"This ain't exactly your inspirational cripple story" says producer/writer Billy Golfus at the beginning of When Billy Broke His Head... and Other Tales of Wonder. Golfus, a former award-winning NPR radio journalist, was thrown 67 feet when a car hit his motor scooter from behind. The accident left him brain-damaged and on the difficult road to recovery with partial paralysis of his left hand and arm.

This is a very personal documentary blending a chorus of voices to express the anger, frustration and determination experienced by members of America's largest minority (43 million). Golfus brings an often irreverent, occasionally humorous, traveling road show together with interviews from his family, and the "helping establishment."

Without sentimentality, self pity, or an attempt to beautify disabilities, Golfus explores, through an episodic narrative, his own difficult life and the lives and careers of disabled Americans across the country. We see the daily life of quadriplegic Larry Keegan, who is shown being dressed by his caretaker, who also puts Larry's deodorant on and lifts him into his wheelchair every morning . Remarkably, Larry sings occasional backup vocals for such famous musicians as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and Neil Young.

Kay, a former Chicago Symphony musician, is barely able to make ends meet and is legally blind, yet every year she receives a 34 page written document to fill out for benefits. Paralyzed from the waist down, the dynamic Joy performs modern dance from her wheelchair. While disabled activist Paul Longmore (Sanford University) teaches "the history of human differences" to non disabled students. Longmore argues for reasonable accommodations for the disabled, not special privileges. Finally, we meet "Special Ed" Roberts a quadriplegic, interviewed in his iron lung, who during the sixties went to California's State Department of Rehabilitation Services looking for any employment, and who years later was made head of that agency by then Governor Jerry Brown.

Golfus, whose father states that he'd rather be dead than disabled, has tried to get work for nearly a decade. Even after obtaining a Master's Degree, the production of this video was his first real work in years. His experiences with the "helping establishment", who reduced his benefits (spindown) are chronicled in the video. Seemingly trapped in a government labyrinth of bureaucratic rules and regulations, the real barriers for the disabled are not according to Golfus, the physical disabilities themselves, but the attitudes that see the disabled as sick, incapable, the defective victims of a fate worse than death. Golfus endorses the incipient new civil rights movement for the disabled, and organizations like Adapt, which advocate home care rather than nursing homes for the disabled.

There is occasional blurriness and graininess in the picture quality. Poor lighting and use of jerky hand held cameras are sometimes a problem. However, we must remember that this important documentary was shot on a limited budget. Mild profanity is occasionally used, but should not be offensive to mature audiences. When Billy Broke his Head... and Other Tales of Wonder is an important documentary because in it the disabled speak for themselves. It is one of the best of its type and strongly recommend it.