Children
‘Ethan the Brave’ Film Teaches About Disabilities
Sara Bitter is a Cincinnati mother on a mission to change the way people perceive and welcome differences, one person at a time. The mother of a son who has a developmental disability, she is a tireless advocate working to educate young people and adults, bridging gaps where understanding and communication break down, so that everyone is ultimately included and appreciated for who they are as individuals. Sara works for the ReelAbilities Film Festival, dedicated to sharing the human experience of disability through art and film. I met her when I handled the marketing for the Cincinnati Festival.
‘Ethan the Brave’ is a film Sara originally created to use in her education outreach efforts. It is the story of an 8 year old boy, a fictitious character whose perspective and experiences are representative of so many who have one commonality…they have a disability or difference. Throughout the story, Ethan shares his interests, capabilities and strengths as well as his challenges. He shares ways he believes his fellow classmates and teachers can better include him in school.
Earlier this summer, one of my interns, Katie Reinstatler, interviewed Sara. (Please click here to read that interview.) Since then, ‘Ethan the Great’ has been uploaded to Vimeo for free public viewing and I highly encourage you to watch and share it. It’s story is a lesson for all of us.
In Sara’s words, “The inspiration for Ethan came from my own efforts to try to help students and teachers at my son’s school understand his disability. Starting in Kindergarten, and at the beginning of each school year, I go into my son’s class and do a short presentation. (An idea I got from another mom who is also a special education teacher.) It has been so positive and impactful for him, his fellow classmates and his teachers that I wanted to try to create a film for all students with disabilities and differences. I wanted it tell a personal story but not identify any particular disability or label; one that any teacher, parent, etc. could use and share with their students; and that anyone could relate to, whether they have a disability or not.
In 2013, I joined forces with the Cincinnati ReelAbilities Film Festival and with the collaboration of many people and organizations, we turned this story into a seven minute film. We also developed an accompanying classroom program which helps students with disabilities and other differences be better understood, supported and welcomed in their classrooms. My ultimate hope: raising expectations in education for people who experience disabilities. We have shown this film program to hundreds of students in the Greater Cincinnati area and had excellent feedback. (Soon this will become available too.)”
Ethan the Brave (with open captions) from Sara Bitter on Vimeo.
After you watch Ethan, and if you like it or find it helpful, please consider making a small donation to LADD, the host of the Cincinnati ReelAbilities Film Festival, organized by LADD or to Thunder-Sky (raymondthundersky.org), the artists at Thunder-Sky studios created the amazing artwork in this film. These artists made Ethan come alive!
Side Note: Ethan the Brave was recently also published as a book. You can purchase it on Amazon.com.
Loveland’s Hannah Laman Wins National Award
Way to go Hannah Laman! The Loveland 12 year old was selected from more than 32,000 nominees across the country as one of 10 national Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program winners! For the award, Hannah receives a $10,000 scholarship for higher education; and Kohl’s is donating $1,000 to the nonprofit 
of her choice. (I bet that nonprofit is Adopt A Book!)
Hannah and her twin brother, Alex, (with help from their parents) founded Adopt a Book that collects and distributes new and gently used children’s book to those who can’t afford them. To date, Adopt a Book has donated 60,000 books to more than 50 organizations, schools and hospitals that serve children in need.
“The most rewarding part of sharing books with others is that other kids have the opportunity to read and own a book of their own,” Hannah told Amazing Kids! Magazine.
Link to a past post about Adopt A Book. #CINspiration
Celebrate The New Kennedy Heights Cultural Campus!
There is exciting news ahead for the racially and economically diverse Kennedy Heights neighborhood. After nearly six years of planning and construction, it is about time for the official ribbon cutting and grand opening of the all new Kennedy Heights Cultural Campus. Not only is it going to be an incredible asset to its surrounding community, but also to our region. The Campus will be a place where people of all ages can come for arts performances, classes, studios, and even an art gallery. And children will have an opportunity for education in the award winning Kennedy Heights Montessori.
I’m helping them to promote the festivities – August 28 and 29 – and can hardly wait. These organizers sure do know how to throw an incredible time!
On Friday morning, August 28, at 10:00 am, friends and supporters will help celebrate with an official ribbon cutting followed by refreshments and a tour of first look at inside the building. Then, on Saturday, beginning at 11:00 am will be the Raise the Heights Art Parade followed by a family festival.
Have A Creative Side? Be Part Of The Parade!
The Raise the Heights Art Parade promises to be filled with vibrant colors and sounds and will travel from Ridge Road, up Montgomery Rd to the Campus site (at the corner of Kennedy Ave and Montgomery Rd). Ten of the region’s very talented artists received small grants to create incredible entrees depicting their own very personal interpretation of the Campus’ meaning to our community.
Just some of what you will see…Pam Kravetz is designing and building five incredible replicas of hot air balloons that will include in their baskets, children dressed to resemble various performing arts; and each one to be pulled by dancers and actors masked with body paint. Jesse Mooney-Bulluck is creating a visually striking 16 ft tall totem pole puppet with engaging moving parts to celebrate diversity.
from a past Kennedy Heights art parade
You can be in the parade too!
We are inviting visual artists, dancers, musicians, street performers, civic groups, schools, organizations and neighbors to participate. With the theme of art, we are asking that groups and individuals either create a portable sculpture, moveable artwork, decorate a car, wear costumes or puppets, hold creative flags/banners/signs, or perform their way down the road.
There is NO fee to participate.
DATE: Saturday, August 29, 2015
TIME: 11:00AM
ROUTE: Montgomery Rd. from Ridge Ave. to Kennedy Ave.
DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES: August 14
Please click here to download an Entry Form.
Raise the Heights Festival
Following the parade, there will be a free festival on the grounds of the Kennedy Heights Cultural Campus, 6620 Montgomery Rd., from 12-5pm with live music, performances, interactive art installations, food trucks, activities for kids, and more. Grammy nominated children’s entertainer Zak Morgan will perform at about 3:30 pm.
Funding is provided in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Nellie Leaman Taft Foundation.
About the Kennedy Heights Cultural Campus
The Raise the Heights event will mark one of Greater Cincinnati’s most dramatic revitalizations as the once derelict building (on the corner of Kennedy Ave and Montgomery Rd) which once housed a Kroger will open its doors as a destination for exploring and experiencing creative expression. Among its occupants will be the Kennedy Heights Arts Center’s Carl, Robert, Richard, and Dorothy Lindner Annex and the Kennedy Heights Montessori Center. The building was purchased with a $675,000 grant from the City of Cincinnati.
The Kennedy Heights Arts Center new second location will quadruple its size and double the number of people served. The Annex will include a 3,000 sq ft 
multi-purpose event center for theatre, dance and music classes and performances; a state-of-the-art Scripps Howard Media Center that will offer arts education programs for all ages in video, photography, animation, website design and graphic design; and ten individual artist studios. The Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild will be among the groups offering workshops for people of all ages. A gallery in the lobby will be a venue for resident artist exhibits.
A $250,000 leadership gift from Robert D. and Betty Lindner paved the way for Kennedy Heights Arts Center’s Satellite Expansion $700,000 project. Other major contributors include: Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Scripps Howard Foundation, George and Margaret McLane Foundation, The Kroger Co., John A. Schroth Charitable Trust/PNC Bank Trustee, Louise Taft Semple Foundation, Thomas Emery Memorial, Ruth and Robert Conway Foundation and gift from many individual donors. Website: www.kennedyarts.org
The Kennedy Heights Montessori Center is an award-winning, not-for-profit parent cooperative school that has been educating neighborhood children, ages 2 to 6, for fifty years. Its presence strengthens the community by providing high quality superior educational opportunities to a racially and economically 
diverse student body of toddlers, preschoolers and kindergarten children. Its sliding scale tuition means families who otherwise would not be able to afford it are assured their children are well prepared. KHMC is a United Way Agency providing half-day and full day programs.
The Center opened its first school in Kennedy Heights in 1965 and with the completion of the new Campus, will be returning to this neighborhood. Its new 12,000 sq ft location will include 4 large classrooms, an extended day care area, a muscle room with indoor play equipment and two outdoor playgrounds. It will be introducing a toddler program for 2 year olds which will be taught by a highly qualified Montessori teacher. Openings are available for both programs. Website: kennedyheightsmontessori.org
Sara Bitter Uses Storytelling To Educate About Disabilities
Story written by GTGA Intern Katie Reinstatler.
“I wanted to create a film for more than just my own kid. I wanted to find a way to do it on a larger scale, to utilize storytelling so more people would
connect with him, identify with him and root for him.”
This is the purpose and the passion behind Ethan the Brave, a short educational film on developmental disability driven by Sara Bitter, mother, and community educator on developmental disability, and created with the help of many, whose names will be mentioned later in this article. She has spent the start of every school year for the last several years teaching teachers, students, and fellow parents about Fragile X Syndrome, the syndrome with which her son lives. Fragile X Syndrome is a genetic condition that causes a variety of developmental problems, including learning disabilities and cognitive impairment. Males are more likely to be affected by this syndrome than females.
As the mother of a son living with developmental disability, her passion and drive in educating her community and the overall public about the ways that these disabilities affect those living with them, is evident. It is in the way she speaks about the work she does, how her movement suddenly becomes animated, and in the careful attention she pays to every detail. Sara is not only passionate about this work, and the film she has created, but she is absolutely committed to her work not only as the mother of a child living with developmental disability, but with the opportunities she has been afforded to be an educator to her community, to teachers, fellow parents, and students, who may not otherwise have access to such educational resources, if it weren’t for the film which Sara set out to create.
In speaking with her on why she wanted to do this, she told me, “I tried to focus on developmental disability because I feel like there’s not a lot of focus on it. I wanted to help students that aren’t getting a fair shake. That was my motivation in all of this, was the kids. So I really wanted Ethan to be a composite character of all these different people, to represent a wide variety of disabilities.”
Ethan the Brave came to Sara one afternoon. She sat at her kitchen table and spent an hour working on the story. Immediately, she knew she had to make it something bigger, that this was something that could be a real tool in spreading awareness about disability in schools, and more specifically, developmental disability. In her quest to make this a reality, she partnered with Reelabilities, a local film festival that focuses on disability, and created both an education committee dedicated to educating the Cincinnati public, and the film. With their collaboration, Sara was able to partner with Thunder-Sky, an art studio in Cincinnati for unconventional artists, many of whom are disabled themselves, to create the film, which features stop motion painting, drawing etc. of Ethan’s life, while a young boy narrates his story.
This is Ethan the Brave, a short 10 minute video that lets the audience know kids with disabilities are really not that much different from kids who don’t have disabilities. Ethan can run, and swim, and feel all the same emotions as the other kids. When Sara described the way she framed the story, she mentioned how “I wanted it to be fun, positive, and uplifting. I didn’t want it to be negative at all.” Too often, it seems, people focus on what those with disabilities can’t do, not what they can. Ethan at one point even says, “I don’t want people to be afraid of me.” He is just like everyone else, and this is how he wants to be treated.
Ultimately, that is the goal of Ethan the Brave, and it accomplishes that goal. Sara’s tenacity, dedication, pride, and absolute passion and compassion in her work and what she has accomplished with this radiates outward to everyone around her. For her, the most rewarding thing is knowing or at least hoping that there is a kid in the classes that watch this that will benefit from this film and the support they receive as a result of it.
Side Note: Ethan the Brave was recently also published as a book. You can purchase it on Amazon.com. 
A Random Act Of Kindness For A Little Boy And His Family
The other day I received an email from a friend, Christy Berning, that was sent to a large number of us. It told the story of a little boy and his family in an unfamiliar city living temporarily in our Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center as they battle health issues no little boy should have to face. They are on the waiting list for the Ronald McDonald House, which is about 20 days+.
Braylon – like Christy’s neice – has Dandy Walker Syndrome, a congenital brain malformation involving the cerebellum (an area at the back of the brain that controls movement) and the fluid filled spaces around it that causes seizures, physical and cognitive delays and many scary surgeries and hospital visits like the 
one he is experiencing now.
Doctors suspect that he may have a defect in his T-cells and are running some tests to determine whether he would be a candidate for a bone marrow transplant. If this is the case, it is a very long six-month process where they would completely wipe out his immune system starting with chemotherapy and rebuild it from scratch.
He would need to wait, however, until they could get his infection under control, because he is currently not stable enough to undergo the treatments. Additionally, Braylon has some major GI issues, and is currently connected to a central line for feeding. Prayers that they can get his feeding better to remove the line, since these lines carry with them a very high risk of infection.
I have been to our Children’s Hospital so many times. It is an incredible place where hallways are lined with bright colors and on any given day you may see therapy dogs or clowns or other volunteers roaming to take the seriousness away even for just a few moments.
Families like Braylon’s come from around the globe for the opportunity to seek medical treatment from the very best. Still, all in all, it can be a lonely journey with long hours of waiting, worrying, wondering and hoping.
So people like Christy who take it upon themselves to reach out and organize efforts to build a community around a family living at the bedside of their child are so incredibly meaningful. Christy asked us to write a card, contribute to a welcome basket or send another token gift, cook a meal, or just keep the family in our thoughts and prayers.
I’ll be sending along a card and Mylar balloons.
Christy and I had lunch this week, and we talked about how acts of kindness have such broad spread impact not only on the receiver but also on the giver. It is such a powerful gift we can give others and ourselves. And it has a way of spreading. I am in awe of Christy’s beautiful heart, and am inspired to give kindness to others.
