Creating Futures: Potential of Video Empowerment in Postsecondary Education

Abstract

Social progress benefits from positive future expectations which are often diminished in the disability community and higher education. Considerable potential exists in the use of video and related technologies to create images of positive futures where previously there was none. These potentials stem from proven practices of self modeling and feedforward, methods to teach new skills with carefully planned and edited videos that show future capability of the individual on video. These practices have been applied to a diversity of ages, situations, and human conditions. We extend these practices to video-based futures planning, in which teenagers find meaning in their current educational setting to prepare them for adulthood and to putting individuals with disabilities in control of the video production to assemble television shows illustrating personal advocacy or community environments with positive outcomes for themselves, their families, and their neighbors. The examples show the considerable potential for support in the postsecondary educational environment.