Genevieve Clay-Smith can see no reason why people’s opportunities should be limited by factors beyond their control.
“People with disabilities really lack points of access to employment of choice,” she explains. “It’s pretty unfair that if you’re born a certain way, and society has stigmas about you, you won’t be able to go into an industry that you’re interested in.”
Clay-Smith is co-founder of Bus Stop Films, a not-for-profit organisation transforming the lives of people with disabilities by creating opportunities for them to be included in the notoriously exclusive film industry.
The program combines theory-level study of film with practical filmmaking to give students a real film school experience, all while gaining confidence and self-esteem, literacy and work-ready skills.
“Currently our government is spending $15 billion each year on disability unemployment, and that figure says to me that we’re really not fighting hard enough to develop our people with disabilities and put them in jobs where they can thrive and flourish,” she says.
Clay-Smith’s eyes were first opened to the barriers people with a disability, and their families, face while working on a documentary project with Down Syndrome NSW during her Bachelor of Arts in Communication (Media Arts and Production) degree. During that process, Clay-Smith met Gerard O’Dwyer — a young man with Down Syndrome. Soon after, and in a move that would set the course for her career, she decided to cast O’Dwyer as the lead in her own short film.
The resulting inclusive film, Be My Brother, went on to win Tropfest — the world’s largest short film festival — and was the catalyst for founding Bus Stop Films. By also including crew members with disabilities, Clay-Smith proved that an inclusive approach actually enhances both the process and the end product.
In recognition of her important work, Clay-Smith was named 2015 NSW Young Australian of the Year, and closer to home, she was named the 2015 UTS Young Alumni Award recipient.
“It's quite a wonderful thing to share my passion and love for film with others, and see them grow and be enriched through that.”