Film Analysis: Praying With Lior

1) Prior to watching Praying with Lior, I rarely considered the joys that an individual with an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) brings to their families. That is, I had a tendency to focus on the potential negatives aspects and stressors involved in rearing a child with IDD, such as stress, exhaustion, financial strain, and tension within the family. However, throughout the span of this class and by watching Praying with Lior, my initial thoughts and assumptions have transformed drastically. In the documentary, we learn that the name Lior means “my light.” This name fits Lior exceptionally well, as his bright personality radiates positivity and love among his friends and family. In particular, he served as a ‘light’ after his

Prior to watching this film, I never envisioned a child with IDD partaking in prayer by themselves, nor did I consider that a child with IDD could enhance the religious faith of their family by leading by example. In addition, I realized that children with IDD are not exempt from family traditions and customs, such as Bar Mitzvahs. Perhaps the most significant change in perspective for me occurred after witnessing the family dynamics of Lior’s family. I realized that they were just like any other family in that they had their own experienced adversities, and they played together, ate together, grew irritable with one another, and loved one another. Initially, I did not imagine that a family with a child with IDD would have the same experiences as families that do not have children with IDD. As demonstrated throughout the film, Lior is a vital link in his family’s chain, as any child would be in any other

However, he believed his disability was an advantage in that brought him closer to God. Since Lior conceptualized his disability in a positive light, his experience is considerably different from many other children with IDD. For instance, in the Jones et al. (2014) study, researchers discovered that many children with IDD understood their disability through a deficit model, meaning that they viewed themselves as defective in some way. This was usually the result of parents neglecting to have a conversation with their children about their disability. As demonstrated throughout the film, Lior did not harbor negative feelings about his disability. Although the documentary did not explicitly show Lior’s parents talking to him about his disability, everyone in the film acknowledged that Lior had Down Syndrome. In the Jones et al. (2014) study, 86% of participants that had a known etiology for their child’s IDD reported having a discussion with their child about their disability, whereas only 52% of parents with unknown etiologies for their child’s IDD held conversations with their child about their disability. Perhaps it was easier for the family to make sense of and discuss Lior’s disability because there was a concrete etiology. When family members discussed Lior’s disability, they all appeared comfortable with the subject. Nonetheless, they generally referred to Lior as being