Charlie and Lewis Smith – IDPwD 2023 Ambassador

Charlie and Lewis, twin filmmakers from Adelaide with invisible disabilities, use their creativity and passion for inclusive filmmaking to inspire others. As ambassadors, they show that disability is a strength and encourage young people to embrace their talents and pursue their dreams.

02:11

Two almost identical young men with wavy

brown hair are side by side. They wear

black rimmed glasses and black long

sleeve jumpers. One wears blue jeans and

one wears black jeans.

Hi, I'm Charlie and I'm from Adelaide,

South Australia. From the Brussels

Valley.

Hi, I'm Lewis. I'm 22 years old. I'm

from Adelaide in the Brussel Valley.

We are thrilled to be ambassadors for

International Day of People with

Disability.

I have a real passion for film making.

We study it through an inclusive film

making program. I also am very

passionate about film making and writing

and we're about to work on a TV show. I

can't mention too much but uh it's going

to be an exciting time. I live with a

mild intellectual disability and some of

the struggles I have mainly like reading

and writing. Sometimes I mispronounce

things or misspell things and in school

that was really difficult and really

challenging. I struggled in primary

school with maths especially especially

handling money but reading and writing

as well was a real struggle. The main

reason why I wanted to become an

ambassador is to not only inspire people

that live with a invisible disability,

but to also inspire many young people

around the nation see the great things

that we are doing and to go with if he

can do it, I can too. Your disability

isn't a weakness, it's a strength. It's

really about embracing what you're good

at in a way. Especially from a younger

age as a child, we had very imaginative

brains and that's really fed into what

we're trying to progress to do now in

film making which is like working behind

the camera writing scripts. We sort of

shut it down in high school, I

think we were more like fearful to say

like this is what we want to do. Having

a brother and a best friend beside you

can really help in those situations. Bus

stop films the inclusive film making

course that we're a part of. It means to

me that I am with like-minded people.

Being around the same community can

really spark your imaginative

creativity. It makes you feel like a

part of a family.

The International Day of People with

Disability logo and website appear.
 

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