COLLABORATORS
Dan Habib
Co-Director/Producer/Cinematographer of My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
Dan Habib is the Co-Director/Producer/Cinematographer of the Emmy Award winning My Disability Roadmap, the upcoming feature The Ride Ahead, and the Director/Producer of the nationally broadcast documentary films Intelligent Lives, Who Cares About Kelsey?, Mr. Connolly Has ALS and Including Samuel, as well as many other short, disability-related films. His films have been nominated for Emmy awards, translated into 17 languages, and used worldwide to support inclusive education and disability rights. From 2014-2017, Dan served on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities under President Barack Obama.
Samuel Habib
Co-Director and Star of My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
Samuel Habib is the Co-Director of the Emmy Award winning My Disability Roadmap, and the upcoming feature The Ride Ahead. Samuel is also a community college student. In 2016, he made a film about disability rights leader Judith Heumann that was featured in the Breaking Down Barriers Film Festival in Moscow, Russia. Samuel was also a story editor on his father Dan Habib’s nationally broadcast film Mr. Connolly Has ALS. He has been featured in magazine articles and has presented nationally on disability rights, inclusive education, and his educational and social transition to adulthood.
Sara Bolder
Executive Producer of My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
Before producing the 2020 documentary Crip Camp, Sara Bolder spent twenty years as a sound editor, working on The English Patient, Terminator 2, The Horse Whisperer, Mrs. Doubtfire and many other films. She won Golden Reel Awards for the Motion Picture Sound Editors for Best Sound Editing for Jurassic Park and Saving Private Ryan and was nominated for 9 other films. Sara also spent fifteen years as a Development Director at various non-profit social justice organizations including Death Penalty Focus, Progressive Jewish Alliance and MoveOnPAC. During this time she also edited a series of videos for Criminals & Gangmembers Anonymous at Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, CA.
James LeBrecht
Executive Producer of My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
James LeBrecht is the Director/Producer of the award-winning 2020 documentary Crip Camp. James has over 35 years of experience as a film and theater sound designer and mixer, author and disability rights activist. A complete list of his film credits (over 145) can be viewed at IMDB. James’ work as an activist began in high school and continued at UC, San Diego, where he helped found the Disabled Students Union. Jim is currently a board member of the Disability Education and Defense Fund, which works for the rights of the disabled through education, legislation, and litigation.
Erica Lupinacci
Co-Producer of My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
Erica is a producer, actor, and advocate dedicated to increasing disability representation in the entertainment industry. She co-created and produced the docuseries, Trust Me, I’m Sick, and co-founded Suffering the Silence, a nonprofit organization leveraging the power of art, media, and storytelling to break the stigma surrounding chronic illness. She was diagnosed with lupus in 2009 and has spoken widely about her experience.
Andraéa LaVant
Consulting Producer of My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
Andraéa LaVant is a nationally and internationally respected disability inclusion expert, widely recognized for spearheading a global disability justice movement as impact producer for Netflix’s Oscar-nominated film, Crip Camp. She is founder and president of LaVant Consulting, Inc. (LCI), a social impact communications firm dedicated to shaping the way the world reaches, views and values people with disabilities.
James Rutenbeck
Film Editor of Intelligent Lives, My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
James Rutenbeck is a nationally renowned filmmaker and editor, with 25 editing credits, including Dan Habib’s most recent film, Intelligent Lives. His nonfiction films have screened at Cinema du Reel, Museum of Modern Art, National Gallery, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and Flaherty Film Seminar. James is a two-time recipient of the Alfred I. du Pont Columbia Journalism Award. His films have been supported by the Sundance Documentary Fund, LEF Moving Image Fund, Southern Humanities Media Fund and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. James was a 2019/20 Fellow at the Film Study Center at Harvard University. He is the father of an adult son with autism, Anthony.
Max Avery Lichtenstein
Contributing Musician for My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
Max Avery Lichtenstein has written scores and songs for critically-acclaimed narrative features such as James Marsh’s The King, Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven, and the film adaptation of Denis Johnson’s novella Jesus’ Son. His scores can be heard in renowned documentaries including the Academy Award-nominated Mondays at Racine. His most recent project is The Janes, from acclaimed directors Tia Lessin and Emma Pildes, which was featured in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival 2022. In 2008 Max was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and has been creatively working with the condition ever since.
Keith Jones
Contributing Musician for My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
Keith Jones, aka Fezo da Mad One, is a co-founder of founders of Krip-Hop, a movement that uses hip-hop music and other forms of artistic expression to allow disabled people to communicate and share their experiences. Jones is the President and CEO of SoulTouchin’ Experiences, and a community activist and entrepreneur with cerebral palsy. He is active in multi-cultural, cross-disability education and outreach efforts. He received an Emmy award for his music and lyrics for the title track of the 2020 documentary Rising Phoenix. dasoultoucha.com
Tariq Zubhuza
Contributing Musician for My Disability Roadmap, The Ride Ahead
Tariq Zubhuza is a musician, tattoo artist, and mental health advocate who was incarcerated for a large portion of his life. He discussed his mental health and substance abuse challenges in Dan Habib’s short 2012 film Tariq. He performs his music as Te Uno.
Kylie Miller
Social Media Coordinator, The Ride Ahead
Kylie Miller is an audio journalist and social media specialist based in New York City. She is dedicated to advocating for disability rights and amplifying disability pride through podcasting and social media. Kylie is the former producer of Signal Award winning podcast The Heumann Perspective, hosted by the late disability rights legend Judy Heumann. She also works on social media for activist and recording artist Lachi, the documentary Fire Through Dry Grass, and the Judy Heumann legacy pages. Kylie holds a B.A. in Communications and Theatre from Goucher College and is pursuing an M.A. in Audio Journalism at New York University.
Amy Brenneman
Executive Producer of Intelligent Lives
Amy Brenneman divides her time evenly between acting, producing, and political activism. She has extensive theater credits and her film and television history includes award-winning roles on NYPD Blue, Judging Amy, Fear, and The Leftovers. She produced and directed the documentary The Way the World Should Be about the trailblazing work of the CHIME Institute and its mission of inclusive education. Her 16-year-old daughter, Charlotte, was born with a rare chromosomal abnormality (only diagnosed at age 15, with only 1,400 cases worldwide), so throughout her early school years she qualified through services through a label of intellectual disability.
Chris Cooper
Executive Producer and Narrator of Intelligent Lives
Chris Cooper, Executive Producer and Narrator of Intelligent Lives, won the 2003 Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his role in Adaptation. He has been an actor on stage, screen, and television for three decades, with notable roles in Lone Star, American Beauty, Seabiscuit, The Bourne Identity, October Sky, August Osage County, Lonesome Dove, and dozens of other films. In 1987, Cooper and his wife, Marianne Leone, had their son Jesse, who had cerebral palsy and epilepsy. They became advocates for inclusive education, and Jesse became a high school honor student. In 2005, Jesse died suddenly from a seizure at age 17. Cooper worked tirelessly donating his time working on the film.
Marianne Leone Cooper
Executive Producer of Intelligent Lives
Marianne Leone is an actress who appeared in The Sopranos, a screenwriter, an essayist published in The Boston Globe, and author of the 2010 book, Jesse: A Mother’s Story. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband, actor Chris Cooper, and two rescue dogs. The Jesse Cooper Foundation funds inclusion and adapted sports for children with special needs, and supports disabled orphans in Romania.
Matisyahu
Contributing Musician for Intelligent Lives
Matisyahu is a world-renowned reggae vocalist, beatboxer, and alternative rock musician. Known for blending Orthodox Jewish themes with reggae, rock, and hip hop beatboxing sounds, Matisyahu's 2005 single "King Without a Crown" was a Top 40 hit in the United States. Based on his commitment to human rights, Matisyahu is donating the use of his songs to INTELLIGENT LIVES.