Q&A with Olivier Bernier about Forget Me Not
On Thursday, March 23, 2023, we had the pleasure of speaking with Olivier Bernier, the filmmaker behind the documentary, Forget Me Not: Inclusion in the Classroom. This is a replay of the webinar where we played a 20-minute clip and then answered questions from the attendees.
In Forget Me Not, parents and filmmakers Olivier and Hilda Bernier share the personal impact of NYC’s segregated education system as they fight for their son Emilio’s right to be educated alongside his peers.
Click here to get the Forget Me Not DVD (personal use) for $10!
The offer valid is until April 15, 2023. Consider buying more than one copy and gifting a copy to a friend, school administrator, teacher, or a library.
Reminder: this DVD is only meant for personal use only. To share the film in an Educational or Community screening, find more information at www.fmndoc.com.
Audio Transcript
Tim Villegas
Since this isn't a meeting I don't think I have to let anybody in
Jessica Kidwell
They have to use the passcode though, the password.
Tim Villegas
I see people coming. Everyone who's joining right now we're going to start in a couple of minutes and just enjoy listening to I think this is Brad Meldau maybe?
All right, folks, it is three o'clock. My name is well hold on a second. Let me turn off this music.
All right, there we go. All right. Welcome, everyone. My name is Tim Villegas, I'm the director of communications for the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education. We're just gonna let have a few more minutes let people come in. And as they come in, if you want to just say hello in the chat, and let us know where you're watching from that would be fantastic. Just a little bit about the Maryland Coalition for inclusive education. We are a nonprofit that works with school districts on a school transformation to more inclusive practices. And so we could not think of a better partnership to showcase the documentary film Forget me not. We have a Olivier Bernier here today that is going to ask, answer some questions after the film. So we are going to show a 20 minute clip of the film. And we're going to just run that through in about just a few more minutes. And then after the film is done after that clip is done, then if you have some questions in mind, think about either writing them down or going heading and putting them into the q&a. And then we have a very special guest, Jessica Kidwell, who is the host of the Neuroversity podcast that is helping us out today. And she is going to be helping us with that. I just got a message here that the chat is disabled. So let me see if I can fix that.
Yeah, how do I do that?
Captions. Okay, well, then, if you do have questions, or if you want to say something, go ahead and put something in the q&a for now. And then maybe when we were we are watching the film, I can figure that out. Oh, yes, so introducing. So I wanted to introduce Jessica Kidwell, who is the host of neuroversity. She's gonna help us out with q&a. And I want to introduce Olivier Bernier, who is our filmmaker. So thanks again for everyone who is here attending. Maybe just a couple more minutes. I see. I'm going to say hello to some of our friends we have I see Barb Gruber. Hello. Got Beth. Bestie Hello. How are you doing? Kelly, thank you so much for being here. Hey, Nolan. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Also, just a reminder that we do have auto caption available. So if you go to the triple dot I believe under more in your that you can enable captions. And if you have any issues with that, please let me know you can put something in the q&a or you can email me directly.
All right.
Okay, so here we're going to do I think we have enough people here. Stop sharing for a second. Olivier, did you want to set up our clip or say hello to our friends?
Olivier Bernier
Sure. Thanks, everyone for joining. I'm really excited to be able to share a clip from our film Forget me not. I believe the clip that we selected is one right at the beginning of our journey to get our son Emilio, who at the time was two years old and born with Down syndrome to try to get him included in the education system. So the film, I think, by the end of the clip, we're learning what some of the challenges will be by meeting other families that have gone through the same thing. So I hope you enjoy the clip. And if you do, check out the film, you can go to Forget me not documentary.com for for the streaming links for the full feature.
Tim Villegas
Right Thank you. All right, let's we practice this then in rehearsal. Let's let's hope that it works.
Hilda Bernier
Even though I was a special education teacher in the New York City public school system, it's completely different to be at the other side. B. Letter B. Honey bunny? As a Mom, I'm afraid that I am afraid of making the wrong choices. Are you gonna swim? I'm I'm very confused. Yes!
Olivier Bernier
Poud dog. High five. Another pound dog. Handshake. Thank you, sir.
Hilda Bernier
Yummy time honey bunny.
Olivier Bernier
I like that one.
Hilda Bernier
Emilo can I get a kiss? I love you.
Unidentified Adult
How old is he?
Olivier Bernier
He is two years and six months.
Unidentified Adult
Okay, and you're starting to work on that transition from EI.
Olivier Bernier
Exactly.
Unidentified Adult
Wonderful.
Hilda Bernier
Yeah, my, my, my main concern right now is to choose the right setting.
Unidentified Adult
There are kind of a lot of different options for preschool and specifically with Emilio because he does have the disability and you don't want to send him in to a general ed classes, if you know, you know, he's not really going to progress there. You know, meet him at his level and get him to the next level no matter where that is. You know, we wouldn't put him in integrated class if we didn't think we could really be successful there. So
you know, what is the setting? There is needs to be met, you know, maybe he'll need a special class when he is three. And that isn't fixed. It's not forever. It's always changing because they're growing. They're getting older, their needs are changing, they're getting
Hilda Bernier
I'm on the fence. What I heard is that if he gets recommended for a smaller class that we should think about it.
Kim Williams
But I mean, it's it's clear that like if you ask someone to reach beyond what they're capable of, they're accomplish those things. You know? You want to see dad for the weekend.
Wesley
Yes.
Kim Williams
Okay. Did you put on there buddy? What do you say you? Thank you, mommy,
Wesley
mommy.
Olivier Bernier
We're trying to figure out the right class setting for Emilio. How did you know what was right for Wesley?
Kim Williams
Where do you want me to start? What do you say they say, Have a good weekend. Thank you. Well, Wesley was maybe five months or six months old, we put them in a daycare center. And one day, the teacher called and asked me to come back during the lunch hour, and when I did to go straight to the basement. When I got there, I was wondering why I was in the basement. And then I started to hear the sound of a baby. And as I got closer to the sound, it was recognizable. It was recognizable because the baby was my baby. And I learned that every day that I dropped him off to daycare, beautiful daycare center, in a great Manhattan community, that they would take them out of that classroom, presumably because he was different and put them in the basement. And at that moment, I learned that my child needed to be included like every other child, because I didn't know he was different. But the world knew he was different. And I knew that I needed to live in a world that would allow him to have the same opportunities as any other child.
When I started doing research, I learned that there was a thing out there called inclusion and that I needed to get it
you go on the restaurant, I'll meet you on site go ahead. A is for Apple. B is for. C is for.
Wesley
Cat.
Kim Williams
I went and I visited the various schools. And we enrolled Wesley into PS8. Every activity that classmates did, Wesley did. And then at the end of the third grade, we learn that the principal was retiring. Someone else will become principal. Eventually they did evaluations on Wesley, without our knowledge or consent. And they recommended that he be removed from general education. We had an IEP meeting, and all the people that made the recommendation decided that they would not come to the meeting. So the principal didn't come the assistant principal didn't come. It was a roomful of people that we'd never seen before.
Olivier Bernier
It sounds like they were orchestrating
Kim Williams
They were orchestrating a removal of him. The goal was that he will be removed from General Education forever, put him self contained, where he wouldn't be around typical peers. So we had no resolve but to change his status to self contained or to homeschool. I decided to homeschool him. So I condensed from working five days a week, to one day a week without knowing if Wesley would ever see the inside of a classroom again. Whether he would ever be entitled to an inclusive education again.
Unidentified Adult
Good morning, can I help you?
Hilda Bernier
Hi, I need to make a referral. But before I decide if this is the right agency, I have a few questions for you. Please wait while we transfer your call.
Unidentified Adult
It's just now you're going from one age range to another. So early intervention is Birth to Three and it's from the Department of Health and three to five to the committee on preschool special ed, when you come to the meeting with the board of Ed, then the Board of Ed will determine the services or the school setting that the child needs. Okay, the only problem with our agency right now, we don't have any availability until February.
Hilda Bernier
I guess I will try calling a different agency. Okay.
Unidentified Adult
Please wait while we transfer your call.
Hilda Bernier
I have one more question. My husband and I are working on a documentary.
Unidentified Adult
The key you entered is invalid
Hilda Bernier
Like a little bit of a help for other parents that are going through the same process.
Unidentified Adult
Early childhood. The key you entered is invalid.
Hilda Bernier
Do you think that we could film the evaluations?
Unidentified Adult
I don't think so.
Good morning and welcome to the eighth annual World Down Syndrome Day. In 1995, the average life expectancy of someone with Down syndrome was just 25 years, less than 30 years later, this is 61. Today, we will focus on advancing the quality and substance of those lives through education.
So firstly, I'd like to introduce Thomas Heir from Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He will be speaking on inclusive education an international research summary.
Thomas Heir
Thank you for having me here. When we organize this study around the questions that people often have when you're talking about inclusive education. Number one, does it benefit or does it hurt non disabled kids who are educated in inclusive environments? And number two, does it benefit students with disabilities?
Olivier Bernier
50 years ago, you know, my son would have probably been put in an institution at birth. What were the exposes and what impact did they have?
Thomas Heir
The the most noteworthy expose of the institutions was done at Willowbrook in Staten Island. And that was done by Geraldo Rivera. I think his greatest contribution to journalism.
Geraldo Rivera
We toured building number six, the doctor had warned me that it would be bad. It was horrible.
Thomas Heir
He went in and brought guys like you have here.
Unidentified Adult
In my building, we had no staff to train them in a systematic way to use utensils to feed themselves that can be done. But what's necessary is to feed them.
Geraldo Rivera
The Willowbrook State School is its country's largest home for the mentally retarded. It's called the school. But that's more a statement of aspiration then effect. Fewer than 20% of the 5230 people who are kept here attend any kind of classes.
Thomas Heir
These exposes were on the nightly news. And there was surveys that are done at the time, the average American didn't believe that this was happening in their country. And so there was it wasn't just parents with kids with disabilities. Other people saw those and they were repulsed. And so I think that that politically helped eventually pass section 504 of the Rehab Act. That was the first big step which prohibited discrimination, and then ultimately, the federal special ed law.
President Bill Clinton
This is the tented South Lawn of the White House. Yesterday, President Clinton signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.