Accessibility Description: The image shows a fan art drawing of "Protactile: A Language of Touch" movie review. It's drawn in digital drawing, and the size is at 1470 x 1080. The drawing illustrates characters communicating with Protactile, but only shows half of a character's body, surrounding with hands and arms, and the hands and arms are touching and patting the legs, representing nodding. The outlines are drawn in white, and the background is colored completely in black. On the top, the first title reads "Protactile: A Language of Touch", and on the bottom, the second title reads Film Review.
Going back to the creative world of PBS in today's first post for July of 2024 on The Autistic Animator's Desk, and I'm very excited to share another fun film documentary review from one of the specials from the program, American Masters. Last time, I did a film review from the series was a documentary episode from Season 35, Becoming Helen Keller from a week and a half ago on Keller's birthday, and to honor Deafblind Awareness Month. If you haven't read my film review on Becoming Helen Keller, you can check it out here on this blog.
In that Becoming Helen Keller film review post, at the end of it, I have mentioned on another documentary American Masters worked on I'll be doing a film review this month, and it's called Protactile: A Language of Touch (2023). And so today, I'll be sharing my thoughts on it.
Protactile: A Language of Touch is a short documentary from one of the specials from American Masters by PBS. It follows the exploration of a touch-based sign language made for the Deafblind community called Protactile, and throughout the film, we'll follow the conversations with the founders and educators of Protactile, learning on how Deafblind people were able to find and bring in deeper connection, while communicating with Protactile. Author, psychotherapist, and disability rights advocate Rebecca Alexander, whom you remember her as the narrator for Becoming Helen Keller, returns as the narrator for this documentary, and along with her, you will also meet Protactile founder Jelica Nuccio and educators Hayley Broadway and Roberto Cabrera, with interpreters Halene Anderson and Tony Bonny.
It first aired on PBS on July 25th, 2023. The production was made by the Mary Murphy and Company, LLC production, and with the series executive producer Michael Kantor and producer Julie Sacks.
The documentary is featured with two accessibility versions for blind and/or deaf viewers, such as audio description and opened captions, and audio description and American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation.
This is a really great episode from American Masters! I really like the documentary, it's definitely one of the best documentaries by PBS, and it was a very interesting to learn about Protactile, such as learning how the language works and how it's different than traditional sign language, meaning with sign gestures and fingerspelling. It was also fun to explore more about the Deafblind community, which this film led me to my appreciation for Deafblind people, compared to watching Becoming Helen Keller. I would definitely say it's a great film to recommend any people who are either interested in studying sign language, whether it's traditional sign language, tactile sign language, or Protactile.
As someone who is both seeing and hearing, and yet autistic, and yet, has been very interested in sign language since 2022, I did find this episode very enjoyable. It was really cool they brought Rebecca Alexander back to narrate the film, since her previous narration work for Becoming Helen Keller two years later. Of course, this documentary got me to discover Protactile, since the first time I watched it, when it first came out last summer.
Protactile is a language that focuses on touch to communicate a Deafblind person. It brings on the touch on the body, replying on shared principles with contact space, tactile imaginary, and exchanges, including using tactile channels. It's much different than ASL and tactile sign language, but Protactile incorporates signs from ASL. It's forms in one-on-one group, using the hands, arms, shoulders, backs, and patting (representing nodding).
This language was first invented by three Deafblind people: Jelica Nuccio, AJ Granda, and Jackie Engler at the Deaf-Blind Service Center in Seattle since 2007. In history, Deafblind people have been limited to have interpreters to communicate, and they have to use whether it's done in ASL or tactile sign language. To quote by Rebecca Alexander in the film, Protactile is "made by the Deafblind, for the Deafblind."
Throughout the film, we meet the creator of Protactile, Jelica Nuccio, while she teaches Rebecca Alexander on how to use Protactile signs, as she explains more history behind it, including on herself.
Who is Jelica Nuccio?
Jelica Nuccio was born in Croatia, the only Deafblind in her family. As a child, she only learned to communicate in American Sign Language, after her family moved to the United States.
She went to Emory University and got a master's degree in public health. Nuccio became the first Deafblind director of the Deaf-Blind Service Center in Seattle, where Protactile was born. Later on, she became the creator of Tactile Communications and a lead trainer at the Deafblind Interpreting Institute near Western Oregon University at Monmouth, Oregon, where she trains interpreters to use Protactile. She is also an advocate for the Deafblind community.
Here's a quote by Nuccio I picked up from her interview with Dave Miller in an article by Sage Van Wing called New Protactile Language Emerges in Oregon from opb.org, which she explains on how Protactile changed her life, and how it made a difference for the Deafblind community:
"I really realized how devoid of the human experience information can be when people aren't connected and touched directly. So touch and Protactile language is the foundation for my life. It truly is. I mean, it allows me to function in the world."
What I really appreciate about the documentary is discovering wonderful special connections for Deafblind people, and how they come to be part of the community as a whole. That happens a lot in the Disability community that no matter what kind of a disability this person has, there's always a sense of culture and community that he or she can make great friends and be part of it. For example, Deaf people have a very good strong sense of bringing their culture into their community to express their love and pride of being deaf and using sign language as their main language to communicate. Even in today's time, in the Autism community, there are a lot of autistic people who are very proud of their autism, because it's part of what makes them who they are, not what they're made of, and it's part of their identity. The sense of community allows people with disabilities to create strong friendships.
I can say I felt very lucky to make friends with many autistic people, whether I have been friends in person, or not-in-person except on social media, it allows me to be adapted more to the Autism community, even after discovering more of my Autistic identity many years later. And of course, I have made friends with other people with disabilities, and needless to say, I really find being part of the Disability community a very blessing. Just because you have a disability, whether you are Deafblind, blind, deaf, autistic, or dyslexic, doesn't mean you're broken. Like exploring cultures from different countries, people with disabilities have a sense of their own culture and community we can explore and discover greater things about ourselves, and how cool is to be part of it. I think the greater message is if you have a disability, you're not alone.
So, there you have it! That is my review on the documentary, Protactile: A Language of Touch by American Masters, and I hope you have enjoyed reading this post. You can watch the documentary from American Masters on PBS from your local stations, it's available to watch on the American Masters webpage from the PBS website, and on PBS's YouTube channel. Two accessibility versions are available on the webpage and YouTube channel for blind and deaf viewers to watch and listen. You can also check out the article from opb.org in the link, if you want to learn more about Jelica Nuccio and Protactile.
Coming up next will be the return of the Harry Potter fan art, featuring a very new artwork to illustrate the Stag Patronus scene from The Prisoner of Azkaban, which is to honor the 20th anniversary of the film adaptation of it. It will be out on July 19th, so if you don't wanna miss that upcoming post, please become a fellow subscriber to this blog to get notified for any newest posts, and you can follow me on Instagram, Discord, and Facebook for latest updates.
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