Dave Peak, a Sykesville resident with cerebral palsy, has always dreamed of being on television.
At a sold-out documentary premiere at the Carroll Arts Center on Dec. 2, Peak and three other Carroll County residents with disabilities got to see that dream come true.
“I’m a soap opera fan, a ‘General Hospital’ fan,” Peak said. “I’ve always wanted to be on TV, and I wanted to assure them that, with my disability, that I can thrive.”
Peak was one of the stars of “Thriving Together: The Power of Inclusion,” a documentary that follows the daily lives of the four Carroll residents and shows how they navigate the world. The stars — Peak, Todd “Spike” Valway, Hunter DeMarcy and Randy Benzil — each work with a different organization that provides social services to people with disabilities: Penn Mar Human Services, Bello Machre, The Arc Carroll County, and Target Community and Educational Services.
Some of the documentary’s stars live on their own, and some work part-time jobs. Valway, who runs his own woodworking business, said he hoped to show viewers what he was capable of and counteract stereotypes about people with disabilities.
“It was the best thing I ever did,” Valway said after the documentary screening.
“Thriving Together” was directed and produced by the Community Media Center of Carroll County, a nonprofit that screens government meetings, sports games and other community events.
Susan Reed, the Community Media Center’s Director of Business Development, said she first had the idea in January and worked alongside staff from the center and all four participating organizations to get the documentary turned around in time for Giving Tuesday, an annual day of charitable giving the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
“I thought that would be really cool, if we could really use this as an advocacy tool to show other people across the country, really what people with [intellectual and developmental disabilities] can accomplish,” Reed said.
In the documentary, each organization highlighted a different aspect of life for people with disabilities. The Arc focused on housing, Target focused on its partnership with McDaniel College, Penn Mar focused on community day programs, and Bello Machre focused on employment.
“The people that they each brought to the table were able to represent those individual areas of the documentary,” Reed said.
In 2026, Reed and others are hoping to bring “Thriving Together” to a wider audience. The Community Media Center recently submitted the film to several national and international film festivals. While that means they likely won’t be able to offer many more local screenings for the time being, Reed said they are working to put together a future event with Carroll Lutheran Church.
At the Dec. 1 screening in Westminster, though, community members got to get a first look at the joy and perseverance captured in “Thriving Together.” The four stars got to arrive at the screening in a limo and walk the red carpet — an experience that Todd Valway said was “awesome.”
Diane Valway, Todd’s mom, said she was impressed and inspired to see four of the community’s social service organizations coming together to produce the documentary.
“They all came together for the good of the clients, to make it the best it can be, and it was so empowering that way,” she said. “It’s what I prayed for my whole life, when Todd was born, that he can be used as an example of these amazing things.”
“We don’t care what they say we can’t do,” Todd Valway added. “This is what we can do.”
Have a news tip? Contact Lily Carey at LCarey@baltsun.com.
from Baltimore Sun https://ift.tt/uZ3ONHT
via IFTTT
