unseen: Life as a Blind Immigrant

It’s been almost three years since unseen first premiered. Just when we thought that we’re wrapping up, the current political climate around immigration enforcement reinvigorated the work we’re doing. This episode is a special know-your-rights workshop geared for disabled immigrants, family members, or allies if ever they encounter ICE or immigration enforcement authorities at home, work, and healthcare settings. We recognize that there has been a big gap on how mainstream immigrant rights organizations overlook the access needs of disabled immigrants in providing critical information at this moment, so we hope the information presented here provides crucial and accessible information.

Our film unapologetically prioritized blind and undocumented immigrant audiences – communities that are systemically pushed to the margins. As unseen’s impact campaign comes to a close after two years, we want to share our process and journey with you. Geared for those who want to use cinema for social impact, this episode was recorded during a live webinar where we unpacked every step of our impact campaign. Featuring the disabled-, queer-, and undocumented-led team behind unseen, we contemplate process, values centered, and learnings gained to bring to life our film and its impact campaign.

Through an interview with our impact producer emeritus, Qudsiya Naqui, on her show Down to the Struts, we talk about the values that guided the making of our film-turned-podcast, unseen. Featuring a conversation between Qudsiya, our main protagonist, Pedro, and director/producer, Set, the three talked about the shared experience that led them to create the project. They also discussed the role of accessibility as a core value in the filmmaking process and the healing space that they hope unseen will generate as it touches audiences around the country and around the world. Thanks to our Qudsiya for letting us borrow from her show. You can find Down to the Struts wherever you get your podcast.

Through her interview with Thomas Reid on Reid My Mind Radio, we're highlighting Nefertiti Matos Olivares, who voiced the audio description for our film and podcast. In addition to narration, Nefertiti is a Quality Control specialist, workshop facilitator and AD advocate and writer. Unfortunately, it’s that last role, writer, that still continues to be a bit controversial. It’s expected that those with no understanding of blindness would doubt your ability, but receiving that from those within the community is another thing altogether. In this conversation, Thomas and Nefertiti talk about her early experience with inaccessibility, ableist thoughts and the impact it had on her own life, her decision to pursue a passion and the response from the AD community when it was announced that she was writing description for an all Blind AD production project.Thanks to our mentor and accessibility producer, Thomas Reid, for letting us borrow from his show. You can find Reid My Mind Radio wherever you get your podcast.

We're highlighting the independent access artist Cheryl Green, who served as accessibility producer and wrote the audio description for our film and podcast. Through her interview with Thomas Reid on Reid My Mind Radio, get to know Cheryl as a filmmaker focusing on disability identity and culture and making media accessible. She began making films after acquiring disabilities from brain injury. Her media combine personal narrative and activism to create dynamic tools that critically challenge misconceptions and stereotypes of disability, celebrate pride in disability experiences, and amplify marginalized voices. Cheryl works to create a platform for people to use the arts to increase connectedness and to promote dialogue and change within the larger community. Hear why Cheryl views Captions and Audio Description as an artistic part of the film/media and a means of achieving disability justice and equity.Thanks to our mentor and accessibility producer, Thomas Reid, for letting us borrow from his show. You can find Reid My Mind Radio wherever you get your podcast.

Wherever we turn for the last several months, it's almost impossible to not notice the 2024 US elections. Unfortunately, the discourse has left out (if not dehumanized altogether) the communities our show uplifts: people with disabilities, undocumented immigrants, and perhaps even you who is just trying to get by in your everyday life. For this bonus episode, we want to give you a pause from all that. We’re reflecting on what the outcomes of the elections mean to us. But rather than tell you what we think or how you should feel, we offer a song for your spirit instead. We hope this offering speaks to you somehow.Thanks to Julie Yeeun Kim for sharing her original song with us. You can follow her work wherever you stream your favorite music.

At work, Pedro expertly teaches other blind individuals the skill sets they need to lead a life with vision loss (e.g. using a cane, reading in Braille). In spite of that, Pedro tells his boss that he often feels unworthy of the opportunities he has received in life. Looking back at his life, Pedro reflects on his goals as a young student, and how he is now living a version of that, in spite of the uncertainties.

A few years after graduating with a bachelor’s degree, Pedro’s grandmother suddenly passes away. Although he eventually earns a Master’s in Social Work, Pedro wonders whether his sacrifices were all worth it, since his grandma passed away while he was studying. This guilt causes Pedro to wallow in depression. As his immigrant parents also age with no access to healthcare or a comfortable retirement, Pedro struggles to pursue his aspirations in life, while his loved ones are content just to see him succeed, expecting nothing in return.

In 2017, the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. occurs in Las Vegas. As a social work student, Pedro becomes a frontline responder, specializing in Spanish-language mental health services for immigrant survivors. At home, Pedro discusses the barriers he faces in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant, preventing him from receiving support to go to school even though he is putting his training into important use. Unexpectedly, Pedro’s mentor informs him about a scholarship from the Mexican consulate, which gives Pedro $5,000 to finally graduate after 7 years. Unlike his classmates however, Pedro has no real prospects after graduation due to his immigration status.

On a hot, summer day, Pedro takes the bus to his university. When a passenger notices the dog next to him, Pedro explains that he gets assistance from his guide dog because he is blind. As he arrives on campus, Pedro heads to the registrar. He pays for tuition out of pocket as an undocumented student. Pedro has faced numerous challenges, being both undocumented and blind, but his mentors have given him resources to follow his dreams. This inspires Pedro to pursue a career in social work, like his mentors, to help others just like himself. While Pedro is in school, Donald Trump gets elected president in 2016, further jeopardizing Pedro’s already precarious status in the U.S.

We invite you into a new way of listening to podcasts. “unseen: Life as a Blind Immigrant” is a new immersive show about Pedro. But instead of telling you why Pedro is so interesting, we’ll put you inside the story of his life instead. Tune in every Tuesday of October 2024 for new episodes, wherever you listen.