Street Display on Telegraph Avenue

Set up in front of the Berkeley Center for Independent Living. BCIL was America's first Independent Living Center.

Berkeley Evite

The “It’s Our Story” Flag is a conceptual disability art piece that measures 12’ x 20’ feet. It has to be seen, heard, and felt to fully recognize its power. The IOS Flag has three distinct viewing dimensions. The front represents the faces and voices of the most diversified community on Earth. The back depicts the future under development that will free our story to the online generation while the center visually articulates the heart of art.

The IOS Flag is comprised of 744 handmade Story Sticks that represent video portraits from 61 cities. 548 of these interviews will be available for viewing via mini DVD players. The remaining 192 are available for sponsorship, donations, and future contributors. The IOS Flag serves as a platform for the voices of DMI archives to be heard answering one question. Why is this project so important? Over 2 hours of actual footage respond to this question that emanate from speakers attached to Our Story Flag. Our voices are heard from the front and our faces are seen on the back. A mere 1/3 of 1% of the voices within the DMI archives fill the air with their responses of that one question. Imagine, what the other 99.67% of “It’s Our Story” could tell us about us.

Storytelling is a pursuit that is as vital today as it was thousands of years ago. “It’s Our Story,” begins to decipher the experience of disability by empowering people to craft material capable of transforming attitudes.

The DMI archives is a history of ideas that the disability community has lived through. Once digitized into an accessible website, these 600 hours of conversations provide the tools to make the story of disability understood in ways never before imagined. The ability to effectively make stories with our voices is being achieved through the will of a few, for the hearts of many.

This is just one example of how the DMI archives can compliment a high school student’s educational experience while contributing content to the “It’s Our Story” mission of freeing our voice to the online world and beyond.

To date, Eric Clow has been the only editor to have access to the DMI archives. His desire to learn how to make movies is the initial spark that led to the creation of the “It’s Our Story,” mission of enabling the power of one for all.

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