"Shining a Light on Disabilities"
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What You Need To Know:
OUT OF MY MIND is a wonderful reminder of the way that God has placed worth into every human, even when society sees people as incapable. The story also highlights the importance of a strong family and the way that we can achieve great things when we’re encouraged and strengthened by those around us. OUT OF MY MIND features multiple prayers and positive references to God. There’s an intense scene, however, of a car hitting a little girl, but nothing’s shown and the girl’s okay.
Content:
More Detail:
OUT OF MY MIND is a wonderful, uplifting human drama on Disney+. It tells the story of Melody, a girl with cerebral palsy. Melody has spent her entire life being overlooked by everyone outside of her family. This has been most noticeable in school, where she’s been in the same classroom with the same teachers for seven years while learning the same material. However, when a young post-doctorate student, Dr. Katherine, sees potential in Melody, she’ll have a chance to prove she’s just as smart and capable as a normal girl.
While the rest of the world is overlooking people like Melody, Dr. Katherine is looking to elevate children with disabilities and help them receive a proper education. She believes not all children with disabilities need special education and some could even thrive in a traditional classroom with only minimal help. After meeting Melody, Dr. Katherine requests her to be her first trial student to integrate into a normal classroom.
At first, Melody’s mom is unsure about this change, but Melody and her dad strongly advocate for the program, so Melody’s allowed to try it. Her reception in the classroom from both the students and the teacher is discouraging, even after she correctly answers a question nobody else knew. At the end of class, however, she finds a glimmer of hope when she becomes friends with Rose, the girl sitting next to her.
After her first day in class, Melody’s parents begin looking into buying a meditalker, a device that would speak for Melody, making it easier for her to participate. However, the meditalker costs $17,000, and insurance isn’t interested in paying for one. Thankfully, if a doctor signs off saying the device is necessary, insurance will cover it. Of course, Dr. Katherine is more than happy to do that.
Soon, Melody receives the meditalker and is able to properly communicate with those around her for the first time. Because she now has a way to talk to the people around her, Melody is able to become better friends with Rose, while also continuing to show her intelligence to the teacher. He remains unimpressed, however. So, he continues to overlook Melody, even when announcing tryouts for the “Wiz Kids” competition, a national trivia competition, for which he’s responsible for creating the school’s team.
He’s shocked when Melody shows up at tryouts and doesn’t even bother grading her test to see if she would qualify for the team. Later, when he announces the roster for the event, Melody is surprised when she doesn’t qualify. Her parents do some investigating. Thanks to Dr. Katherine, they find out Melody got a perfect score on the test and should, therefore, have made the team. Begrudgingly, the teacher is forced to put Melody on the team.
At the regional competition, Melody and her team go on a roll, making it to the finals against the five-time national winners. After 25 questions, the two teams are tied, launching them into a head-to-head standoff with one representative from either school. Melody gets selected to represent her school and is able to beat out her opponent to win the tournament and qualify her team for nationals.
Despite proving herself, the teacher still dislikes Melody. He doesn’t invite her to a team breakfast the morning of their flight to Washington D.C. Their original flight ends up getting canceled due to an incoming storm. The team scrambles to book a new, earlier flight, meaning they must rush to the airport. Will Melody make the flight?
OUT OF MY MIND is a wonderful, uplifting story that highlights the fact that everyone has inherent value. Even when people are different, they don’t deserve to be overlooked and, in fact, sometimes have talents that others don’t have. The movie also stresses the value of family and the strength that comes when our loved ones encourage and advocate for us. Even better, OUT OF MY MND features multiple prayers and positive references to God. There’s one scene, however, of a little girl getting hit by a car. Nothing is shown, and she ends up being okay, but the scene could be intense for younger viewers.
