Freedom Machines (2004)

Freedom Machines is a 2004 PBS/P.O.V. documentary that looks at disability in the age of technology, presenting intimate stories of people ages 8-93, whose talents and independence are being unleashed by access to modern, enabling technologies. Nearly twenty years after the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the film reflects on the gaps between its promise and the realities for our largest minority group – 54,000,000 Americans with disabilities. Whether mainstream tools or inventions such as a stair climbing wheelchair (iBOT), Freedom Machines examines the power of technology to change lives.

Synopsis

Freedom Machines studies the concept of diversity through the intimate stories of adults and children with disabilities who are using modern technologies to change their lives. Among them are Susanna who is beginning her college career, 38 year old Floyd Stewart who was paralyzed in mid-life while raising four children; 92 year old Gladys who is determined to overcome a hearing loss; and high school student Latoya Nesmith who dreams of becoming a translator at the United Nations. Fifteen years after passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, Freedom Machines is a reflection on the status of life of America's largest minority group: 54 million people with disabilities.

Actors