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Walking Dreams is a documentary about a phenomenon that’s never really been studied: almost every full-time wheelchair user dreams that they can walk, run, dance, or fly, even people who have never taken a single step in their lives. I’m a wheelchair user myself and I haven’t walked since 2016, but I still walk in my dreams every single night. When I found out how many other wheelchair users experience the exact same thing, I knew I had to discover why. The FILM follows me as I talk to wheelchair users about what these dreams feel like, and to neurologists, psychologists, and spiritual leaders about what might be causing them. Some people find these dreams joyful, a nightly escape. Others find them painful, a reminder of what they’ve lost. Nobody has a definitive answer, and that’s kind of the point. It’s a film about dreaming, identity, and what our minds hold onto even when our bodies can’t.
No one is really sure because it’s never been studied. In the film, you’ll hear from wheelchair users who have their own theories about why they have these dreams, as well as experts in the sciences and different religious and spiritual faiths about what their beliefs might indicate.
You’ll meet about half a dozen wheelchair users, from different backgrounds, identities, disabilities, and beliefs. But one thing they all have in common is their wheelchair dreams. You’ll also meet different medical experts and leaders from different religious and spiritual practices theorizing through the lens of their particular belief systems.
I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2005 and started using a wheelchair full-time in 2014. I’ve always been a very vivid dreamer, and after I started using a wheelchair, I realize that it never appeared in my dreams. I didn’t think anything of it until I saw other wheelchair users talking about this same experience in a Facebook thread. That was the first time I realized this was a common experience in the wheelchair community.
Once the film is completed, we will be submitting it to film festivals all over the world. We’re hoping during that process to obtain a distribution deal for streaming television, and hopefully you’ll be able to watch it on an outlet like Netflix or Hulu!
The cool thing about dreams is that they are a universal human phenomenon. They’ve been studied to an extent, but nobody knows with absolute certainty what they mean, or why people dream in the first place. This film is for anyone curious about the phenomenon of dreaming, an interesting and exploring the inner lives of people with disabilities.
We are privileged to be fiscally sponsored by the International Documentary Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. That means that all donations to our film project are fully tax deductible. Your donations will help pay for things like salaries for our film crew, editing, animation, and meals for everyone on set. After the film is finished, donations will go toward film festival submission fees and travel to attend the festivals for networking to achieve distribution deals. CLICK HERE to learn more about the perks you can receive with our different donation tiers.
Almost every wheelchair user has walking dreams, so we know there are some great stories out there. Click the contact link at the top of this page and send us a message about your walking dreams so we can feature them on our website!
