DVDs for State Employees


The California Department of Rehabilitation has provided the California State Library a collection of twelve (12) DVDs available for check-out by a state government employee. You may utilize these DVDs as part of your department's training and outreach efforts regarding hiring and retaining employees with disabilities and serving customers with disabilities in the public and private sectors. DVD topics include the Americans with Disabilities Act, disability awareness, access, serving customers with disabilities, and employment of people with disabilities. A state library card is required to check-out the DVDs and accompanying materials. Please go to State Library to apply for a state library card . For non-state government employees, please check with your local library regarding a lending agreement with the California State Library.

DVD Titles and Information

Getting it Right: Etiquette Tips

Program Length: 33 minutes
Captioning: Closed Captioned and Spanish subtitles
Copyright Date: 2008

Description: How do you talk to someone who uses an interpreter? Is it OK to push someone in their wheelchair? Is there a difference between handicapped and disabled? These questions and more are answered in six scenes with common sense answers, highlighting disabilities related to mobility, psychiatric, deafness, speech, blindness and prosthetics.

Changing Attitudes

Program Length: 20 minutes (37 page discussion guide included)
Captioning: Closed Captioned
Copyright Date: 2000

Description: Why is it that we still see adults with disabilities treated as children, as threats to society, as incapable of living a normal life in the community? Examine these persistent attitudes through the real life stories of people with disabilities and learn what to do about it through short, humorous video skits and exercises that give groups the tools to recognize and challenge these every day misperceptions.

Self-Advocacy: Freedom, Equality, and Justice for All / Advocating Change Together

Program Length: 29 minutes (Includes Facilitators Manual & Discussion Guide)
Captioning: Closed Captioned
Copyright Date: 1996

Description: This package contains specific, concrete strategies for promoting and strengthening self advocacy. Learn the rich history of self advocates, disability rights activists, and civil rights struggles.

Freedom Machines

Program Length: 78 minutes
Captioning: Closed Captioned
Copyright Date: 2005

Description: Explores how human experience and technological innovations are outpacing social policies and the perceptions that have guided them. Freedom Machines is a riveting reflection on the lives of America's largest minority group; the over 55 million people with disabilities. Fully bilingual (English/Spanish). State of the Art accessibility and navigation features including: video description, captions, and talking menus. Additional segments on types of assistive technology, how and where to get it, Universal design, and legal rights of people with disabilities.

Understanding the New ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)

Program Length: 16 minutes
Captioning: Closed Captioned
Copyright Date: 2009

Description: The ADA Amendments Act (A.D.A.A.A.) was signed into law in 2008 and is now in effect! There is no doubt that the reach of ADA coverage has been widely expanded with the new ADAAA and consequently legal exposure for employers has been broadened. The Americans with Disabilities Act has now been clarified and significantly expanded. Looks at the fundamentals of the original ADA and explains the changes that are now in effect because of the new Act.

The ADA Revisted

Program Length: 24 minutes
Captioning: Closed Captioned and DVD is Subtitled
Copyright Date: 2006

Description: Providing a clear understanding of the ADA law the ADA Revisited is intended to inform managers and other employees about the opportunities and legal responsibilities organizations and individuals face under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Combining analysis of the ADA by a team of legal experts as well as interviews with employees with disabilities and their managers provides a balanced view of the impact of the ADA in today’s workplaces. Presents the ADA as an opportunity, not a burden.

A Little History Worth Knowing

Program Length: 23 minutes
Captioning: Open Captioned
Copyright Date: 1998

Description: From ancient times to telethons to today's burgeoning disability movement, A Little History Worth Knowing traces the often over looked history of people with disabilities. With a combination of hard hitting facts and rare historical footage, the video looks at: Stereotypes in films, TV, and other media, the ongoing struggle for disability rights, the effects of technology on people's ability to work and live independently, Disability as a diversity issue, and historical stereotypes.

Ten Commandments of Communicating with People with Disabilities

Program Length: 26 minutes
Captioning: Closed Captioning and Open Captioned with Audio
Copyright Date: 1994

Description: The Ten Commandments of Communicating With People with Disabilities uses humorous vignettes to deliver its disability awareness message. Train employees, improve customer service and avoid losing talented employees due to ignorance or awkwardness. Human service agencies get "double duty" from this program when they use it to train their own staff and the community about disability etiquette.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Program Length: 24 minutes
Captioning: Closed Captioned
Copyright Date: 2007

Description: Covers the information needed by all supervisors and managers to implement the 49 principles of the A.D.A. in their workplace while guarding against expensive lawsuits. Focuses on: What qualifies as a disability? What is a reasonable accommodation? How does the ADA impact the hiring process? How should performance concerns be addressed?

Serving Customers with Disabilities

Program Length: 15 minutes
Captioning: Closed Captioned
Copyright Date: 1995

Description: "How do you treat a person with a disability? Like a person." explains Ron Cohen, Executive Director of United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles. Serving Customers With Disabilities shows real people with different physical disabilities describe the kinds of service they prefer and offer strategies and techniques designed to help individuals provide sensitivity to some of the service issues surrounding customers with disabilities.