Disabilities and Dory: How We Can Swim Together

Teaching to Fish ~ Pixar’s Piper and the Solutions to Disability Unemployment

Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory is quickly becoming the smash hit that movie critics and theater professionals anticipated it to be. However, it is Pixar’s Piper short that steals the show before Dory, Marlin, and Nemo enter the screen.

In true Pixar-manner, this triumphant tale about a young, scared sandpiper perfectly reflects many of the human experiences we endure. This short particularly resonated with the work I do at the Prospector Theater – a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to providing meaningful employment for adults with disabilities through the operation of a premium first-run movie theater in Ridgefield, CT. Our goal is to create the strategies, techniques, tools, methods, and materials needed to significantly reduce the 80% unemployment rate among working aged Americans with disabilities. If you give a man a fish, he can feed himself for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he can feed himself for a lifetime. This old adage lies at the heart of the Prospector’s employment program.

Working at the Prospector, employees – or Prospects as we call ourselves – are encouraged to use film as a common ground, a shared experience. We are curators of the content that we offer, helping to create meaningful experiences that extend beyond our screens. I myself have always viewed film as a vehicle for dialogue. Film helps us better understand ourselves and/or the world around us. Piper, an adorable and youthful sandpiper, is seeking to do just that.

In the short film, Piper is learning a new task, or job. Piper is learning how to fish. At first, this is incredibly exciting and Piper is filled with hope. She thinks to herself, fishing can’t be that hard, and she joins her sandpiper peers on the beach as they search for clams. There is plenty of reason to be hopeful. Her mother demonstrates how the tiny bubbles bursting from the sand indicate the location of the clams. But the bubbles come and go very quickly, and Piper soon realizes how tricky fishing can be. This whole process is very frustrating to Piper, who up until this point has relied on her mother for food.

The novelty and excitement about fishing quickly dulls as the reality settles us. Piper begins to understand the environment around her. It is big and overwhelming. When a massive wave sweeps her away, the fear of fishing sends her back to the sand with ruffled feathers.

That initial attempt and failure is painful for Piper. She becomes hesitant to reenter the water, as she worries another wave will send her back to the shore defeated and hungry. Reluctantly, Piper tries again, knowing that if she does not learn to fish, she will surely starve. As she makes her way into the tide, a massive wave approaches. Piper has a flashback of her last defeat and freezes in front of the giant tide until she notices a family of hermit crabs. The tiny crabs press forward towards the impending wave, even though it towers over them.

Piper looks on confused, too mesmerized to notice the impending wave as it draws closer and closer. The hermit crabs dig into the sand, preparing for the blast. As the wave descends upon Piper, she mimics the hermit crabs and their preparation for the wave. As the water rushes over Piper, the tiniest hermit crab taps her on the beak. “Open your eyes, the world is your oyster”. To Piper’s delight, she opens her eyes underwater, revealing dozens of clams before her. When the waves retreat, Piper enthusiastically scours the sand to uncover the clams the wave revealed. Piper quickly perfects the technique, bringing in loads of clams for her and the other sandpipers. A happy Piper sleeps contently upon a clamshell pillow at the short’s end, basking in the glory of her success.

All of us must learn to fish in order to achieve a meaningful life. Yet, we all learn in a different way. At the Prospector, we know that each and every person thinks and learns differently. For this reason, the onus is on us, as teachers and trainers, to create tools, methods, and adaptive strategies so that we can teach each and every Prospect how to fish in the most appropriate and fitting way. Although Piper did not fish the way her fellow sandpipers do, that does not mean that she is wrong. In all reality, her strategy seems to gather more clams that her feathery counterparts.

In today’s society, our standard educational and work environments often discourage non-traditional ways of thinking and learning. Conversely, the Prospector encourages each and every Prospect to transform their sparkle – or their talent, passion, quirk, and motivation – into a meaningful work experience. Once we become open to the idea of embarking on an experience through non-traditional ways, we can tap into our fullest potential. We overcome our adversity and shatter the expectations placed upon us. We can be box office attendants, concessionists, graphic designers, embroiders, filmmakers, editors, and clam diggers. And we can do it as good as, or better, than anyone else. All we need to do is to look at the world with a new perspective, to persevere through the shifting tides, and discover the new and innovative pathways before us.

D
Submitted by Danbury, CT

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