Disabilities On Screen and Off

Ashley Eakin is a writer-director based out of Los Angeles with a physical disability. She was 1 of 8 women selected for the AFI Directing Workshop for Women and her project Single was selected for the SXSW 2020 Film Festival and received the Special Jury Recognition Award. Eakin was also the recipient of the New York Women in Film Loreen Arbus Disability Awareness Grant. Eakin worked for Mark Pellington on the Quibi series Survive starring Sophie Turner and Corey Hawkins. Eakin was the assistant to film director Jon M. Chu on his critically-acclaimed box-office hit Crazy Rich Asians. Eakin also worked for Beacon Pictures in development, in the writer’s office of the NBC scripted drama The Night Shift and for 10×10 Entertainment, which produces America’s Next Top Model. Eakin’s short documentary The Details, featuring Henry Golding and Awkwafina was selected for the 2018 Hamilton Film Festival. She directed a short film celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Cancer for College, which features Will Ferrell. Her short film Blue premiered at the 2019 LA Shorts Fest. Eakin was featured in a SoulPancake video talking about her rare bone condition, Olliers disease and Maffucci Syndrome. Her medical journey has immensely influenced her passion to pursue stories that advocate more diverse representation for people with disabilities.

Michele Spritz has dedicated to making the world accessible to people of all communities by providing her vocal talents to filmmakers, publishers, speaking venues, charitable organizations, and nonprofits. She has audio described films such as Pavarotti, The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, Oliver Sacks: His Own Life, Miss You Already, Dealt, The Great Muppet Caper, and many others. Michele also has co-produced and voiced audio description for museum exhibits such as The Senses: Design Beyond Vision at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, as well as video describing annual fundraising gala videos for disability organizations. Michele sponsored and voiced the audio description for select films from 2014-2017 for Superfest: SF International Disability Film Festival and continued the same for ReelAbilities: NY and LA International Disability Film Festivals from 2015-2019. Woman of Her Word develops, initiates and implements unique ticket outreach programs, underwriting patron attendance tickets annually for varied performing, visual and cultural arts platforms and venues. Michele was the first to initiate and fund BAFTA scholarships for graduate film students with disabilities, initiate annual film media accessibility grants for filmmakers for NYWIFT and WIF LA, as well as funding assistive audience technology in various venues. Woman of Her Word has been featured in live interviews with NBC, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, SF Examiner, PRNFM, and several other media outlets. Michele speaks on several panels about digital media and film accessibility, such as NYWIFT/ReelAbilities, NYWIFT/NYFF, and WIF/SAG-AFTRA.

Shari Bisnaught is a costume designer and wardrobe stylist whose lifelong love of fashion has taken her from South Florida to Los Angeles, where she has found the perfect outlet to express her creative passion. Shari has spent the past five years working on a variety of television shows including Extra (Telepictures), Crime Watch Daily (Tribune), 12 Deadly Days (YouTube Red), and Lady Dynamite (Netflix).

Tatiana Lee is an award-winning actress, international model, and Hollywood influencer. She serves as a Hollywood Inclusionist at RespectAbility. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career and learned how to harness the power of social media to speak boldly about accessibility and inclusion in mass media. She soon became the voice behind AccessibleHollywood.com where she highlights her journey as an actress, model and lifestyle influencer born with Spina Bifida. She was in one of Apple’s first ad campaigns featuring people with disabilities using Apple’s accessible features and products, and her credits include the 2018 Disability Film Challenge Best Awareness Film, Footloose, and Coffee with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple. She has appeared in modeling campaigns for Target, Zappos, and more. She was the 2018 recipient of the Reeves Acting Scholarship from The Christopher & Dana Reeves Foundation for her contribution to further disability inclusion in film and media.

Nasreen Alkhateeb is an award-winning director. In addition to creating original content for NASA, The United Nations, TED, Discovery Networks, WITNESS, and IFC Films, Nasreen has participated in the Sundance Film Festival, and helped program AFI DOCS, The Nantucket Film Festival, The Brooklyn International Film Festival, CINE, TIVA, and the Emmys. In 2019, her film East of the River screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, and won Honorable Mention at Slamdance. She directed two national campaigns for NASA and Women’s March. In 2017, The District of Columbia Office of Television & Film recognized Nasreen as Filmmaker of the Month. In 2016, Nasreen was awarded Cinematographer of the Year by NASA.

Tchaiko Omawale is an award winning director. She lived in eight different countries while her father worked for UNICEF, moving to the US at sixteen. She graduated from Columbia University then interned for Spike Lee and Mira Nair and assisted feature directors George C. Wolfe and Tom Vaughan. Her first short was a Derek Jarmon/Octavia Butler inspired fantasy film. Tchaiko was awarded the Gaea Sea Change Residency for artists working for social change while making her documentary America’s Shadows HIV Risk in Black and Latino Youth. Her feature film Solace starring Hope Olaide Wilson, Lynn Whitfield, and Glynn Turman was inspired by her personal experiences with an eating disorder. Solace recently premiered at the LA Film Festival winning Special Jury Mention Best Ensemble Cast and won Audience Award at the New Orleans Film Festival. The film was supported by several organizations including Panavision, Tribeca Film Institute, IFP, Women In Film, Film Independent, and Creative Visions. Tchaiko was a 2017 School of Making Thinking Resident fellow where she created the VR film Shapeshifters. Tchaiko’s choice to contribute to global equality by becoming a director is in line with her upbringing.