A music composition student at UC Santa Barbara, a foundation director connecting children with disabilities to music, and a music writer who is planning a fourth annual showcase at the Granada Theatre, Grace Fisher is undoubtedly a busy 23-year-old. Paralyzed from the neck down at 17 by acute flaccid myelitis — a polio-like spinal cord disease — Fisher has inspired others living with disabilities to find their artistic muse. Fisher’s life and goals, along with those of three other people with spinal-cord injuries, are featured in a film titled I Am My Power that screens this Thursday, October 21 at Goleta’s West Wind Drive-in Theater.
Produced by the Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation, I Am My Power follows the stories of four people living with disabilities, including Fisher, who not only continue to pursue their passions in spite of the challenges they face, but inspire others to do the same. The other three featured in the film are Danny J. Gomez, David Francisco, and Wesley Hamilton, each of whom have fostered careers ranging from modeling, to singing, to nonprofit work following spinal cord injuries.
“We’ve all become disabled in a different way, and we all have different ways of finding our power. There are a lot of things I can’t do, but art is still something I can create,” said Fisher.