APSE - 25th Annual Conference and Training Event

Wednesday, June 24, 2015 Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel

Presenter: David Block: Blind Filmmaker Champions the Disabled

Conference Strand: Leadership for the Future

Format: Breakout Session (90 min) Target Audience: Explorer

Contact information: David Block

34 West Montgomery Ave, Apt 33, Ardmore, PA 19003

phone:(610) 649-4899 email: web:

David Block is a blind filmmaker and freelance journalist who is passionate about educating the public and raising awareness about the challenges, abilities, and accomplishments of the disabled and the forgotten. To this end, with little or no budget, he has produced six documentaries which illuminate the talents, strengths, and challenges of the blind athlete, the injured hero, and the forgotten veteran. Block’s documentaries have been broadcast on Philadelphia public television stations, WHYY TV 12 and WYBE TV 35. They have received funding from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association, and the Karden Foundation along with individual donors. The “Time to Share” Foundarion (Julian Krinsky) endorses Block’s documentaries because they demonstrate compassion, shatter stereotypes, champion people with disabilities and educate the public about their abilities while telling a riveting story.

He personally promotes his work by teaching Goalball, the international team sport for blind athletes, to sighted people. He is an inspiration to disabled youth in sharing ways he and others have overcome adversity.

As a freelance journalist, Block has over 1500 articles published in Jazz Journal International, Jerusalem Post, London Times, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Runner's World, Runner’s Gazette, Running Times and dozens of local magazines and newspapers. He has interviewed high profile athletes, celebrities, and musicians such as Kobe Bryant, Bill Cosby, Joe Frazier, Larry Hagman, Florence Henderson, Bruce Jenner, Lee Majors, David Sanborn, McCoy Tyner, and Grover Washington, Jr.

SYNOPSIS OF DAVID BLOCK'S DOCUMENTARIES:

* Portraits of Possibility - focuses on the abilities, challenges and misconceptions directed toward blind athletes. Filmed at the 1992 Paralympics in Barcelona, Spain.

* Brian’s Run - the paralysis of a talented high school athlete inspired the West Chester, PA community to sponsor a 10-K benefit race that has become an annual tradition to help others in need

* Abandoned Heroes - explores the problems veterans face after returning home from combat (their attempts to get healthcare and information from the VA, their re-integration into society)and finally their resolve to heal, reconcile and help other veterans.

* Dancing Outside the Box - Ballroom dancing merges the rhythm of the music with the graceful movements of the dancers as they glide around the floor. Dancing Outside the Box shows how wheelchair users and their able-bodied partners bring their two worlds together on the dance floor, creating beauty in motion and proving that everyone can dance.

* Mirror of the Soul - shows how horseback riding or just being around horses helps troubled and disabled people by increasing their self-esteem, helping with physical therapy, and providing non-judgemental love.

* Goalball, a Sport for Good Listeners - about the little known sport of goalball and the world-class blind athletes who participate.