The Importance Of Having An Advocate In The Movie I Am Sam

The importance of having an advocate is something not understood by people until they are in a situation where one is needed. An anonymous quote I found said that today “the problem is not the person’s disability… The problem is society’s view of the person’s abilities.”1 This is something I have found in many aspects of my life, people with disabilities aren’t nearly as concerned about being different as everyone around them seems to be. The point where society tries to limit a person with a disability is where an advocate becomes important. According to the Disability Advocacy Resource Unit(DARU) an advocate “ensures the human and legal rights of people with disabilities are promoted and protected so that people with disabilities can fully …show more content…
Sam is a father with a developmental disability but more love for his daughter Lucy than any other father I have ever seen or interacted with. In this movie there is a tense moment between Sam and a little boy at Lucy’s birthday party that is concerning for the parents there, and then a comment is made that makes Lucy run away. This situation brings child services into the picture and takes Lucy away from her father. As the story unfolds, Sam begins working with a lawyer to try and get Lucy back. The court questions many things about his ability to parent, starting with the fact that cognitively he is 7 years old, which is the same age as Lucy, and wonders whether this will cause problems for her in the future. His lawyer, Rita, for a long time does not believe in him and is on the side of the court trying to take her away. However, as she gets to know Sam and understand how he thinks, she realizes how much he truly loves his daughter and would do absolutely anything to give her the best life possible. The court says that Sam will not be able to parent Lucy on his own and it could be harmful for her that he will most certainly make mistakes and have to rely on services for tutoring and other help. However, Rita jumps in and reminds the court that all parents make mistakes and have times when they are not confident and must rely on others. She points out that it would be more harmful for Lucy and any child if the parent tried to do everything alone and not ask for help because there is no such thing as a perfect parent. A psychiatrist that agrees with the court is brought in to testify that Sam will make mistakes and be responsible for Lucy having a bad future. However, Rita knows that the psychiatrist’s son died of a drug overdose and asks her about it, wondering what mistakes she made along the way to cause that and if it would have been better for the courts to take her son away. This is important because it