Eighth-grade documentarian Greely catches the attention of Ken Burns

For David Gilbert, an aspiring filmmaker and eighth-grader at Greely Middle School, the Americans with Disabilities Act is not just an abstract policy. TA landmark 1990 law gave Gilbert, who has severe dyslexia, reasonable accommodations at school, such as the ability to use text-to-speech technology. “My brother is also autistic, so ADA meant a lot to us,” Gilbert said.

In tribute to the law and the disability rights movement, Gilbert produced the film “ADA: A Turning Point in Ensuring Access to Civil Rights” for the National History Day competition. National History Day, a nonprofit educational organization, encourages learning about history through participating research projects.

His 10-minute film won praise and acclaim from none other than Ken Burns, one of America’s leading documentarians.

Gilbert’s film won third place in the individual junior category (grades 6-8) in the Next Generation Angels Awards 2024. The Better Angels Society, an organization that supports education and civic engagement through documentary film, is partnering with National History Day to present the awards. The awards are intended to recognize “well-documented historical filmmaking following the example of renowned documentarian Ken Burns.”

Gilbert had the opportunity to fly to Washington, D.C. for the ceremony at the Library of Congress, where he met with Burns in person. The ceremony was “by far the greatest thing I’ve ever been to,” he said. “They had hors d’oeuvres and you looked up and there were beautiful works of art hanging above you.”

Later, award winners also had the opportunity to have a Zoom session with Burns to talk about their films. Gilbert stated that it was “amazing” to have “the greatest documentarian of all time talking to you about your documentary and knowing that he had watched it.”

Gilbert said he was impressed by Burns’ observations. “I just watched it once I knew exactly what your problem was. I had a problem… is it really hard to tell a story when there is no person or event in it, just a slow, gradual, grassroots effort. He knew it was difficult,” he said.

The film opens with a news story from July 1990 announcing that the Senate has passed its version of the ADA bill. Later this month, President George H. W. Bush will sign a law banning discrimination against America’s largest minority in everyday life.

Gilbert’s narrative takes the viewer through the process of how we got to this point in 1990. “Throughout history, disability has been viewed as a problem that needs solving rather than an integral aspect of identity,” says Gilbert. The film discusses the forced sterilization of disabled people in the early 20th century and other laws that effectively excluded disabled people from society.

Later, disabled activists and people began to organize, adopting Civil Rights Movement tactics such as sit-ins and rallies, including a March 1990 pro-ADA rally in which protesters rose from their wheelchairs and walked up the steps of the U.S. Capitol. “The so-called silent minority wasn’t so quiet anymore,” Gilbert says in the film.

The film then focuses on the successful fight to remove the Chapman Amendment from the ADA before it was adopted. The Chapman Amendment would allow restaurant owners and other employers to transfer workers with communicable diseases such as AIDS to non-food-handling positions, despite no evidence that AIDS can be transmitted through food contact.

Students participating in National History Day across the country have the opportunity to work on projects like these. Students can submit projects in five creative categories in two sections (one for grades 6-8 and the other for grades 9-12). The student can create a documentary film, an exhibition, a performance, a website or write an article on a specific historical topic. Students can take part in competitions individually or in groups.

Gilbert participates in his school’s National History Day club, chaired by teacher Katie Cassesse, where he was able to get feedback and support for his project.

This wasn’t his first year filming for NHD – last year he shot a film about Arctic explorer Matthew Henson – which is how he acquired video editing skills.

Although he tried using video editing programs, he found that learning about history came naturally to him.

“I always loved history… so I really enjoyed it. You know, I just read books and look for sources on the Internet. NHD taught me that it is always worth going to the primary source because I could put secondary and primary sources right next to each other and see the difference and inaccuracies in the secondary source,” he said. Conducting interviews – as with a famous activist for disabled people – was stressful, but ultimately rewarding, he said.

So the million-dollar question: Does Gilbert want to one day become the next Ken Burns?

“I’m focusing more on medicine, but it’s a little too early to tell,” he said. “I have time.”

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