I faced a task of reviewing “Including Samuel” by a documentarian and a photographer Dan Habib, which is a documentary film telling a story of Habib’s son who was diagnosed cerebral palsy when he was only one-year old. The movie is actually a record of the Habib family’s endeavors to include Samuel in each aspect of their lives. Habib also included stories of four other people suffering from diverse types of disabilities and struggling to be included into a normal social life. They are: Keith Jones, Alana Malfy, Emily Huff, and Nathaniel Oraina. The film features Norman Kunc, a remarkable disability rights activist who runs “Broadreach: Training & Resources” site.

Samuel is an exceptional child indeed. Despite his disabilities, he shows himself as a strong individuality. He can be very assertive and definitely is able to help himself to a point. He is very constant and persistent. He has a wonderful ability of seeing humor all around. Being included in school classes, he shows himself as being very interactive. He obviously has multiple things to do in school. As to his physical strength, we observe how he can walk with assistance.

Samuel contributes to the community he lives in just as other children do, or even better. Students he studies with have a light-hearted view about him. He views everyone as a friend; he is funny, cheerful and can make people laugh. It is amazing how this little boy shows patience in almost everything he is going through. Samuel has opened eyes to many, preventing society from being too prejudiced against disabled people.
Naturally, Samuel’s well-being depends a lot on expectations other people have for him. Mrs. Habib, Samuel’s mother, confesses she was very afraid at first, while father had very prejudiced views. They all had low expectations for all Samuel’s abilities being developed properly. In fact, in situations like Samuel’s nobody can give any guarantees for success. Moreover, people from outside world are usually extremely biased towards disabled individuals, they often make fun of them, which makes Habibs family pretty much isolated. However, Samuel’s family proved itself as being very helpful.

Samuel, who is now an eight-year-old boy, shows some self-advocacy skills. First of all, he can push his own chair, which makes him comparatively independent in his movings. He says that he wants to be an astronaut, implying that he wouldn’t need a chair in space. He can also talk with the help of a computer. Little boy can play T-ball and basketball.
Habib’s son is now in the process of building relationship with other people. Samuel and his brother are best friends. He smiles and laughs a lot when he is in a company of other people. We observe how he tries to build relationships with everyone, doing that in a really nice way. He can also be stubborn however. The most precious quality Samuel has is his love of life and his wonderful ability to enjoy people and living.