Easter Seals DuPage will premiere
NIU student documentary

by Tom Parisi

On the day Sam Williams was born, he almost died.

“We have a child born with a brain injury,” his mother told his father. “If he survives, we have an altered life.”

Sam Williams survived. And, indeed, he alters and changes people. He has enriched the lives of his family members and transformed the perspective of those who look beyond his disability.

Just ask Casper Rice and Lauren Pollock.

The two NIU student filmmakers explore the life of Williams and his family in their award-winning documentary, “Please Wait to Be Seated.” Easter Seals DuPage will premiere the documentary during its film and photography exhibition, titled “The Power of Family.” The exhibition will be held from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 29, at Easter Seals DuPage, 830 S. Addison, Villa Park.

“I learned a lot about filmmaking through the experience,” says Pollock, a senior from Peoria majoring in communication. “I learned a lot more about the abilities of people with disabilities.”

Williams, 19, has cerebral palsy, a disorder usually caused by brain damage occurring at or before birth and marked by muscular impairment. He spends most of his time in a wheel chair, hence the irony in the documentary’s title. And he speaks with the aid of a computerized speech synthesizer, not unlike the device used by Stephen Hawking.

Williams has something else in common with the world-renowned thinker – brainpower. This fall, he began his freshman year at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The filmmakers met Williams during his senior year of high school.

“Walking into Easter Seals and trying to communicate with Sam for the first time was a whole life-turner,” says Rice, a Sycamore native who graduated with a degree in communication this past summer and now lives in Geneva.

“Sam has difficulty speaking,” Rice says. “At the same time, his mind is always racing ahead of everyone else. Spending time with him, you realize he’s brilliant, yet most people don’t grasp the fact that he’s a normal person.”

The documentary project began in the classroom of NIU Communication Professor Laura Vazquez. Her advanced field production course (COMS 426) requires students to produce documentaries. A chance encounter between Rice and Ellie Cummings, public relations director for Easter Seals DuPage, convinced him to pursue a project for the agency. Cummings recommended Williams as a possible subject for the feature.

“We spent time in class discussing the issues of creating audience comfort with an unfamiliar voice and body type,” Vazquez says. “The class made suggestions, which I believe helped Lauren and Casper. To their credit, they have continued to work on the project even though the class is over and the grades are in.”

Williams’ father, Jim, a professor at Rush Medical College, and his mother, Sammy, a physical therapist at Easter Seals DuPage, opened their lives to Rice and Pollock. The access allowed the student filmmakers to gain perspective and focus on the person behind the disability.

“They succeeded in their desire to show that Sam is very much a person, not just a disability, that he does have hopes, dreams, frustrations and a wonderful strength,” Ellie Cummings says. “Sam’s family has a strong spiritual health and wonderful sense of humor. They always seem to raise the bar for him. And in the documentary, you see that Sam’s strength is very much a reflection of the strength of his family.”

At one point in the film, Sam explains why he laughs in the face of adversity.

“Humor has allowed me to get through some pretty hard times,” he says through the voice synthesizer. “You can’t be a tight ass and have cerebral palsy.”

“Please Wait to be Seated” won the Best of Festival Award at the Rock River Alternative Film Festival in Rockford this past summer. The documentary has been expanded upon for the Easter Seals DuPage premiere to include footage of Williams going off to college and of his graduation at York Community High School in Elmhurst.

The documentary captures Williams as he practices walking with the aid of a TheraSuit – a network of hooks, Velcro and bungee-like cords that help guide muscle movement. The suit, based on a design for Russian cosmonauts, allowed Williams to walk across the stage to accept his diploma.

“I was very moved seeing the film, with the grasp and level of understanding these student filmmakers have of this young man’s life,” says Mary Alice D’Arcy, president of Easter Seals DuPage. “It is stunning. You leave the film really knowing Sam.”

In addition to the documentary’s premiere, “The Power of Family” exhibition will feature a juried collection of 32 photographs created by College of DuPage students. The photos, each 2 feet by 3 feet, depict the lives of Easter Seals DuPage clients and will be accompanied by audio vignettes.

The public is welcome to attend the event, but reservations are necessary because space is limited. Call (630) 282-2026.

10-13-03