Documentary includes Traci Taylor, IU East disability services coordinator and a mentor athlete

Indiana University East will host a screening of “The Movement: One Man Joins an Uprising” at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21, in Vivian Auditorium, located in Whitewater Hall. The documentary film will be shown in honor of Disability Awareness Month.

The event is free and open to be public. The doors will open at 5 p.m.

The film is narrated by Robert Redford and Warren Miller and directed by Kurt Miller. The movie trailer is available online.

The 40-minute film follows Rick Finkelstein, who was paralyzed in a ski accident on an Aspen Mountain but returned to the slopes six years later after undergoing nine surgeries. He was inspired by four mentor athletes Mike May, Traci Taylor, Jim Martinson, and Chris Waddell. All overcome their disabilities to find freedom through skiing.

Taylor is the disability services coordinator at IU East.

As a child growing up in Los Angeles, Taylor met Warren Miller, a pioneer of action sports films, known for writing, directing and filming skiing and snowboarding movies. In a life changing moment, Miller asked Taylor if she wanted to ski, something she never considered she would be able to do. As an infant, she was given a 10 percent chance of surviving because she was born with Sacral Agenesis, now known as Caudal Regression.

Warren offered to help Taylor to learn to ski. She also became one of the featured skiers in “Steep and Deep,” a film Warren and his son, Kurt Miller, were filming while Taylor was learning how to ski in Winter Park, Colo.

In “The Movement,” Taylor talks about her childhood and how skiing opened up a new world and sense of freedom.

“I hope it (The Movement) brings a general knowledge of all adaptive sports and that someone with a disability can be successful,” Taylor said.

For more information, contact Traci Taylor, disability services coordinator, at (765) 973-8446.