Attorney Richard Bernstein to speak at the Reel Abilities Film Festival

FOX 19 Cincinnati
9-9-11

Sheila Gray:
It’s 8:26 and Cincinnati’s the first city in the US to host a traveling New York film festival which celebrates the lives and stories of people with disabilities.  It’s called ReelAbilities and it kicks off tomorrow.  The opening night speaker is an attorney, business leader, marathon runner, iron man, who’s been blind since birth.  His name is Richard Bernstein, and he’s my guest this morning.  Richard, welcome.

Richard Bernstein:
Oh thank you so much for having me.  I’ve got to tell you, I love Cincinnati.

Sheila Gray:
Is this your first time here?

Richard Bernstein:
It is, and I want to tell you, I love Cincinnati.  You couldn’t find nicer, warmer, just more wonderful people to be with, so thank you.

Sheila Gray:
Well we’ve always thought that so thank you for saying that.

Richard Bernstein:
I just love it here, thank you for having us.

Sheila Gray:
Well, you have so many different facets to your career and your life, but I know the thing you really like to do in your off time is be an athlete, and you’ve completed an iron man competition.  You run in marathons all over the world.  You know a lot of people would say how do you do that when you’re blind.

Richard Bernstein:
Well, I’ll tell you, first off I really do want to thank the  Saul Shottenstein Foundation B for putting this all together and the reason that this foundation was so passionate about this film festival is to change people’s perceptions of the disabled.  When you see a blind person like myself, you tend to have a certain perception and a certain belief about what we can do.

Sheila Gray:
Well, you are changing perceptions just by doing these things.  Is that why you do it or is there another reason?

Richard Bernstein:
Well, ultimately I love athletics.  As an attorney you always want to look strong, you want to look capable, so athletics helps you do that, and ultimately I have been blessed to be able tocomplete 14 marathons, the iron man competition, and ultimately what happens when you do it is you realize you can make it happen.  You realize that no matter how hard or how difficult life gets that you can push forward and you can achieve it.  And I think athletics is an incredible way to really break those stereotypes that people have of those with disabilities and I think for those who come to the film festival you’re going to find that this is what it’s about.  We’re going to change those perceptions, we’re going to change that ideology, and we’re going to allow people to see those with disabilities in an entirely different light.

Sheila Gray:
We had one of the guests from “Warrior Champions” in earlier this week and you know veterans are a part of this film festival too.  What are people saying when they see these documentaries that are a part of this festival?

Richard Bernstein:
Well, I think what people are saying is that they are amazed with the human spirit, and that’s what this festival is about.  It really celebrates the human spirit.  When you meet a disabled person, what you realize is that people with disabilities, I think are given a certain blessing.  They’re given the blessing of perspective.  They’re given the blessing of passion.  And I think what you will find at this film festival, is you will find people of passion, people of resiliency, people who say that no matter what happens to me I’m going to just keep on going.  And I think what you’ll find is, when you come across disabled people, when you go to this festival, you will see that even though our bodies might be infirmed our spirits soar.  And when you have a soaring spirit, it allows you to realize that you’ll have what you need when you need it to deal with whatever challenges you might have.

Sheila Gray:
Wow, well the Reel Abilities Film Festival kicks off tomorrow with Richard, the guest speaker, and it runs through the 22nd at the Art Museum The College of Mount St. Joseph and Xavier.  The Mayerson JCC is a big place where you can see a lot of those movies too.  We have a complete schedule at fox19.com, we’re going to put that link in the big red box, but you can also call 513-985-1598.  Richard, thank you so much.

Richard Bernstein:
And thank you for having me and thank you to Cincinnati for sponsoring this.  We’re going to hopefully really change perceptions, and I got to tell I love your town.

Sheila Gray:
Thank you, we love you.  We’ll be back in a moment.