By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
Do You Dream in Color is a very inspiring documentary about four blind teenagers challenging the norm, and it is set to arrive on Video on Demand outlets like iTunes today.
These youths show they can make great accomplishments in their life. Connor wants to become a sponsored skateboarder, Nick and his band perform live, Sarah desires to study abroad (her goal is to study Spanish in Portugal) and Carina to graduate high school. The latter is tough when not all institutions have the material needed for the disabled, especially the blind, to study with their peers. The material is out there, but to say a school has it is another question.
The American public education system is not perfect. With this story exploring four independent tales — with half about battling it — to see how these youths go about their daily lives there makes for an interesting message. They have their place, because social engagement is just as important so they are not feeling down, but when the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) fails to provide those youths access to material and programs so they can learn, just where can they go? For the two boys, they have found other outlets to deal. The two girls, especially in Carina’s case, I could feel her pain. She was held back because the school she went to did not have competent individuals who are looking out for her.
I was also very engaged in following Sarah’s story. For a disabled person to go to another country on her own must be very frightening for her parents. But their confidence in their daughter, and her resolve — especially when she talked about her mixed feelings of loving the fact she got accepted, but not at the host city she wanted to be in since they had a better program in place for the disabled — certainly showed obstacles do not matter.
This documentary’s success lays more with the direction by Abigail Fuller and Sarah Ivy. They balanced the story of these four unique individuals out and made a product that also encourages others with disabilities to never feel down, but find ways to succeed too. As Jason Nesmith from Galaxy Quest would say, “Never give up! Never surrender!” In the Marvel Comics front, Connor was not the only Daredevil in the film. They all are special heroes in their own way.
4 Stars out of 5