Storytelling for Social Justice: How Sarah Barton is Using Film to Champion The Voices Of Disability
In this compelling new four-part series, This Ability, Philip Stephens embarks on a journey to explore the lives of individuals like him, who have transformed adversity into opportunity. Through candid interviews with those living with disabilities, as well as disability allies, Philip uncovers inspirational stories, providing readers with honest insights into how challenges can be redefined as opportunities for growth and success. The series will cover a range of topics including disability in the workplace, personal resilience and overcoming common obstacles, offering valuable perspectives for anyone navigating their own path through life’s challenges.
Introducing Sarah Barton
Kicking off this new series is a conversation with distinguished independent documentary maker, Sarah Barton. As a documentary writer, director and producer, Sarah has made a huge impact on the Australian film and television industry, helping to move the dial on critical social justice issues including mental health, disability and discrimination.
With an impressive filmography spanning over twenty years, Sarah has worked on prolific titles including films Secret Fear (1997) and A Wing and A Prayer (2000) and televisions series Kids Ward (1998) and No Limits (2003-2014). Her first groundbreaking documentary Untold Desires (1994) which explored the intersection of sexuality and disability, earned her both a Logie and an AFI Award for Most Outstanding Documentary and is still screened regularly around the world.
Outside the broadcast arena Sarah has written and produced numerous programs for not-for- profit organisations including The Association for Children with a Disability, The Communication Aide Users Society, Riding for the Disabled, The Disability Services Commissioner and DEAL Communications. In 2008 Sarah was a finalist in the Australian Government’s National Disability Awards in recognition of her ongoing disability advocacy through film and television, and in 2010 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to research her documentary Defiant Lives (2016) about the disability rights movement.
Philip: How did you get into filmmaking?
Sarah: That’s a bit hard to say, because I’ve been a filmmaker for more than 30 years. I think I wanted a creative life. I love storytelling and I love films because they are such an effective medium for interrogating the human condition. I’m not really into sci-fi or fantasy. I prefer films that resonate with the authenticity of experience. I guess that’s partly why I gravitated to documentaries.
Philip: Your early work, like Untold Desires, broke new ground in exploring sexuality and disability. What impact did it have on your career moving forward?
Sarah: In the short term, Untold Desires was a great calling card for me, and I got my next film funded relatively quickly. We won a lot of awards for that film, and it really did set me up as a filmmaker. But for women working in film, having a family can be a real career killer because the working conditions are not really family-friendly. On top of that, I had a child with a disability, so for a while, it was really hard to keep working. No one offered me anything lucrative. I had to make it all happen myself, and that took time… it still does.
Philip: No Limits has been pivotal in showcasing disabled voices. Can you share some of the most memorable moments from your time producing the series?
Sarah: Gosh, I remember the first day we were filming, and I gave everyone a briefing about what I needed them to do. Then we rolled the cameras, and it was as if I’d said absolutely nothing at all. No one seemed to have heard or taken in anything I’d said, so I got a bit cross. I’m not really a cross person, but I spoke to the panel as I would anyone else and said I expected more from them. One of the disabled presenters said to me afterward, “No one really ever tells disabled people off for not doing well enough. You were treating us like you would anyone, and that’s a good thing.” We did some amazing shows with not very much, and I loved the community we created.
Philip: As co-founder and CEO of Disability Media Australia, you've played a crucial role in advocating for disability rights through media. How has this evolved over the years, and what achievements are you most proud of during your tenure?
Sarah: I think the work I’ve been doing since the mid-90s has been groundbreaking, and people often forget that we made all these amazing programs that were years ahead of their time. They may have been rough, but they were made by the disability community, and that was completely radical back then. We had disabled people on the telly every week talking about what matters to disabled people, and we were training disabled people to operate the gear and produce the show.
Fortunately, this work has led to some really positive changes for disabled people, and these days in 2024, I wouldn’t presume to do the work I did back then because it really belongs to disabled creatives. When I returned to Disability Media in 2011, after a break of a few years, I took a back seat creatively. My role was more of an executive producer, finding the money, consulting and giving advice about the content of the show. I am proud to have played a big part in getting disabled people seen and heard on our screens, setting them up as agents of change so they can share their own views and ideas. Developing talent was also something I was proud of. People such as Stella Young, Kath Duncan, George Taleporos, and Phineas Meere (who sadly also died very recently) all got lots of experience with me, and their talent really developed.
Philip: What insights did you gain from your Churchill Fellowship, and has that helped shape your work?
Sarah: The Churchill Fellowship in 2010 allowed me to connect with the international disability activist scene, and really understand the events that shaped the disability rights movement from the 1970s until now. Until then, I’d been told that the early disability rights actions were by injured Vietnam veterans who began agitating for greater inclusion, but as I travelled and researched, that’s not the real story. What I found were people all over the world agitating for deinstitutionalisation, for inclusion at universities and schools, for curb cuts and accessible public transport so they could move around cities. The activists were diverse, and they were so generous and wonderful in sharing their stories. It was a huge privilege to meet these pioneers of the movement, but it was also very urgent in 2010, because so many of them have died since I did my research. Many of those still with us remain friends to this day.
The Fellowship laid the groundwork for my film Defiant Lives because I travelled with a camera kit and filmed all my research for the film. That was very challenging, but I’m so glad I did it. It was the only way to get the film made. Since I’ve developed my website Disability Busters, I’ve put a large number of the interviews up on the site so people can see them in their entirety and use them for their own research.
Philip: Your initiative, DisabilityBusters.com, aims to amplify disabled voices through online video. How do you see digital platforms shaping the future of disability advocacy and storytelling?
Sarah: DisabilityBusters.com is a great educational resource, because it has so much content that is both entertaining and informative. Universities use the videos for teaching all kinds of subjects, from law, to disability studies, to social work, health, and society. There are so many areas of study where good quality, community-made content is valuable. We have hundreds of videos made by, and with, disabled people, and that’s pretty groundbreaking. I can see now that others are beginning to include disability storylines and performers, but very few programs really immerse you in the world of disabled communities without being patronising or inspirational.
Philip: Having experienced both traditional and digital storytelling through projects like Crossover, how do you balance innovation with maintaining the authenticity of the stories you tell?
Sarah: I have had several opportunities to create works that are not strictly linear productions. My favourite was creating the online component of the Stella Young statue in Stawell. The Northern Grampians Shire Council wanted to build a completely accessible interactive element that would help people get to know Stella better when they visited the statue. I worked to come up with an app and website that people can access while they are there, and from anywhere really. We made it accessible for vision-impaired people with voice-activated wayfinding and links to the website. It was a wonderful project to work on.
Philip: Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the future of disability representation in media, and what advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers who want to tackle similar themes in their work?
Sarah: I think disability representation is improving, and there are many ways to contribute to that improvement. You can hire disabled actors to make disability more visible. Those actors may or may not be involved in disability stories, but simply including disabled people in situations that are represented on screen is important. Also, remember that disabled actors and disabled creatives, in general, don’t always want to be telling stories about disability. Some do, but many just want to explore the same storylines that others do – love and sexuality, workplace dramas, and so on.
When tackling disability themes, it’s vital to be authentic. There needs to be a reason for you to tell that particular story. Without strong reason, you risk producing something shallow and ill-conceived. You need to involve disabled people at all stages of the process. One thing I do notice, though, is that you can’t just sub in any disabled person to tell any disability story, because many people only have their own lived experience to draw upon. While lived experience in itself is powerful, it may not be enough to connect with a completely different story. For example, a wheelchair user with an acquired spinal cord injury, may not be able to fully connect with the experiences of an autistic person with expressive language difficulties. Disability is vast and complex.
Philip: What’s something that I haven’t asked that you're dying to talk about?
Sarah: It’s always nice to talk about new projects, and I have two that I am super excited about. One is in development hell – a place that seems to involve extremely slow progress and a fair bit of frustration, but I’m very excited to tell this unique disability story. It’s a scripted memoir that I’ve been writing with Anna Stubblefield. Anna is an American professor who was famously jailed for her intimate relationship with a disabled man who needed support to communicate. I was so drawn to her story because it resonates with my own experiences with communication rights and sexuality from my first film Untold Desires. There was a documentary recently released about the story called Tell Them You Love Me, which is just a sliver of the story – there is so much more to explore, and our feature film will do just that.
The other project is Stella: I Am Not Your Inspiration, a feature documentary about the late, great comedian Stella Young. Stella was a close friend of mine, and I have a considerable archive of her television material which will form the basis of the film. It’s super important that we have a film about Stella because her life and work were crucial in the disability world and beyond, because she used humour to communicate the message of disability rights. Both projects are still at the financing stage, so if there are any angels out there who want to support this important work, please come and chat with me.
Philip: Lastly, when have you gotten really excited about something that happened to you in your life, either professionally or personally?
Sarah: As I’m writing this, I’m just a few weeks away from heading to Paris as part of the Australian Paralympic team. Of course, I am not personally an elite athlete with a disability, but I am going in an official capacity to support my daughter Stella Barton, who is a Grade 1 Para-Dressage rider. Together, we have been on this huge adventure for the last 18 months, training and preparing for this event. I manage Stella and her team, which includes her coach Sally Francis, the horse’s trainer Sharon Jarvis, and owner Jade Moody. When we started, I wasn’t particularly ‘horsey’, but I’ve found my filmmaking skills transfer really well to the elite sporting space. I’ve been learning a huge amount about horse management (as well as athlete management) and now I’m probably past the stage where I can say I’m not very ‘horsey’. If you’d like to follow our adventures, you can follow us on Facebook.
The Power of Storytelling in Social Change
Through film and advocacy, Sarah Barton provides a powerful example of how storytelling can drive social change. Her commitment to amplifying the voices of those often unheard, continues to inspire and challenge us to think differently about disability and representation. Her dedication to changing the narrative around disability echoes Philip’s own journey, with both united in their mission to reshape the representation of those with disabilities, to create a more empowered and equal future.
Part two of This Ability features Australian lawyer, author, and former Disability Discrimination Commissioner human rights practitioner, Graeme Innes, another remarkable individual who is helping shape the future of disability and human rights through advocacy and reform.
Inspired by these conversations? Check out Philip Stephens’ memoir, My Lucky Break: The True Story of a Daredevil Quadriplegic, which shares his remarkable story of resilience, optimism and adventure. Learn more at iamphilipstephens.com.
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