Are you here because you saw our "Maybe One Day" public service message on your television? If not, maybe you saw the link on our website and just wondered what it was all about.

Either way, we are glad you are here!

You can watch our message online, learn more about our actors, and get in touch with the issues that motivated us to create this presentation.

November 20, 2008: Maybe One Day had a special viewing with the Sprout Touring Film Festival!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH NOW!

If you are unable to access YouTube, please click here for a RealPlayer version, or use this link for Windows Media, or get a Quicktime version right here. If none of those options is successful, please tune in to A-Channel!

This is not the first video production we've ever made or been a part of. We have a long history of making our own public service message videos. A-Channel television has made a number of them for us as well. The LiveWorkPlay organization, the people we serve, and their family members have been frequent subjects for television, radio, and print media. But despite all of that, when our self-advocacy group got together in the fall of 2007 to talk about future objectives, it was identified that something was missing.

Everything we've done up until now has mainly been about people with intellectual disabilities: anything from how to navigate the ODSP system to the  self-advocacy movement  to a how to of personal independence. We've talked about people with intellectual disabilities and housing needs. People with intellectual disabilities and employment. People with intellectual disabilities and fitness. People with intellectual disabilities and voting in elections. People with...OK, you are seeing the pattern. Well, so did we.

As part of SMILE we offer self-advocacy groups. Starting in September 2007 they identified that we've barely touched upon the issue that most people in the general public have problems when it comes to people with intellectual disabilities. Simply put, they are pretty ignorant. Worse, their thinking often includes stereotypes, prejudice, and discriminatory attitudes. This had been a hot topic at Visioning Day in June as well. So maybe it was time to work on a presentation that was about people withoutintellectual disabilities! 

What became this public service message started out as "Project Oblivious." Why Project Oblivious? Because we watch television ads, that's why. We'll explain. 

As facilitators of the two self-advocacy groups, staff members Keenan Wellar and Jen Bosworth found themselves in a struggle for a direction. They were getting great feedback about the problem, with a long list of issues related to ignorance and stereotypes. A lot of this was very powerful and personal to the people with intellectual disabilities sharing it. So great, now what? What do we do with that? How could we point this out to people in a useful way? And how would we get the message out to them?

The answer came in the form of a beer commercial. Yes, a beer commercial. Molson Canadian runs a series of advertisements about an individual who has certain thoughts and attitudes about Canadians and their habits. Despite various obvious signs to the contrary, he never picks up on the fact that his thinking is totally out of whack with the reality around him. Basically, he's oblivious.

We started studying the commercials. What makes them funny? What is the point? Does it matter if it is about beer or could it be about just about anything?

The conclusion was that a similar concept might work well for communicating the public's ignorance about people with intellectual disabilities.

Keenan took that idea to Jamie Banks at Affinity Productions (thank you Derek Diorio for the great referral). She got it right away. Then she brought in writer and actor Richard Kaulbaurs. It wasn't too long after that before there was a draft script. Initially there wasn't a speaking role for anyone but Richard, but the staff team of Keenan, Jen, Grace Hudson and Julie Kingstone started bashing around an idea for a new way to end "Maybe One Day" with a speaking role. Soon enough there was a final draft.

Then Jamie brought in director Matt West and all the right pieces were in place. Everyone concerned was excited about the project. LiveWorkPlay handled the casting of the actors and then we all came together for a pre-shoot meeting at LWP headquarters two days before Matt shouted "Quiet on the set!"

There was an instant happy buzz in the air, and that positive spirit carried right through to filming day. You can see it in our behind-the-scenes video clip. It's not actually all that fun to sit around all day waiting for your part - unless you are enjoying your work and the people sitting around with you! It was also great having the support of the people at the UPS Store and The Arrow & The Loon Pub.

We don't want to bias your enjoyment of our public service message, but there's a few key thoughts we wanted to communicate. Once our completed work is available on this website, we'll tell you about those, and also post detailed information about each of our actors (now available, just click on any actor photo), which should also help with understanding our presentation and its message.

You can read an article about our "Maybe One Day" that appeared in the Algonquin Times.