Free To Be

Freedom: noun – the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. The condition or right of being able or allowed to do whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited.

Disability rights attorney, Morgan Whitlatch, calls the fight for independent choice “the cutting civil rights issue for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.” Across the United States, thousands of capable adults with disabilities are living under the restrictions of court-appointed guardianship. They cannot choose where to live, make their own healthcare decisions, and, in some states, do not have the right to vote. But attitudes are changing and so are state laws. Free To Be chronicles Jamie Beck’s journey from guardianship to independence as she becomes the voice of a disability rights movement and fights for big changes for her home state of Indiana.

Produced by: Indiana Disability Rights
Executive Producer: Jessica Trimble
Director of Photography and Editor: Bryan Boyd
Writers: Rachel Hunter and Bryan Boyd