Film Depicts Life of Samuel Faux
~ by Trevor Phipps ~
When Woodland Park High student Samuel Faux, was about to enter ninth grade, he made a documentary about his life as a part of a project with the Youth Documentary Academy.
Moreover, this film has served as an inspiration for those undergoing certain disabilities, especially when it comes to speech limitations.
After being named the best documentary at the All-American High School Film Festival in New York, the Rocky Mountain PBS channel decided to recently start airing his short film as a part of their new series called “Our Time.”
The film depicts the life of Samuel Faux who is now a junior in high school through his own eyes. “It is about how I am twice exceptional, which means that I am gifted in one area but I have a disability,” Faux said. “It describes it for me but I wouldn’t say that it is the same for everyone but it at least describes what it is and it can serve as an entry way for others.”
When Faux was three years old doctors diagnosed him with a condition called an apraxia of speech. Faux says that the impairment makes it tough for him to pronounce words and that he has to think about how to correctly pronounce each word that he says.
On the other hand, Faux found out later when he was in elementary school that he was gifted in other areas of learning. When he was young, Faux tested in the top five percentile in the country of people his age in the logic and reasoning category. Faux said that this means that he excels in the math and science subjects in school.
When coming up with a topic for the film project Faux was searching to find a topic that was personal. He then decided to make it about his life and call it “Twice Exceptional.” Faux helped with the editing, filming, and he conducted many of the on-camera interviews.
He said that he wanted to make a documentary that would raise awareness for both his disability and others that fall into the twice exceptional category. “I want them (people watching the film) to be more understanding even if they may not know exactly what’s going on,” Faux explained. “They can at least be more understanding especially when it comes to people like me because I have what is called an invisible disability which means that it is not physically noticeable like someone who is in a wheel chair, for instance. And so it may be harder to tell with people that have an invisible disability.”
During the film, Faux interviews members of his family including his mother and his brother who has also been diagnosed with having an apraxia of speech and who is also twice exceptional. The film also shows testimonies from one of his former teachers on how good he is in math and science and a professional speech pathologist that explained what an apraxia of speech is.
The film was aired on Rocky Mountain PBS as a part of a new series “Our Time” produced by the Youth Documentary Academy. Faux’s documentary was recently aired twice and it will air more times in the future.
The episode of the series for Faux’s documentary can be watched online by going to https://www.youthdocumentary.
