2022 PANEL
(2023 PANEL TBD)
SATURDAY @ 1PM
Elle Potruch
C-TALENT / TALENT MANAGER
Elle Potruch is a Talent Manager with C Talent @ Whalar, representing solely high-profile Deaf & Disabled performers across a variety of industries. Driven to increase disability inclusion and change the way people define disability, she takes pride in providing the best representation for her clients possible. As a Talent Manager, Elle has placed her clients in a variety of projects, from HBO to Lionsgate, to paid partnerships with JCPenney and CVS. In her 5+ years of experience in representation, Elle has gained invaluable knowledge of the entertainment industry as a whole, and is always looking to learn and go beyond expectations.
Caitlin Conner
BE MORE ADAPTIVE / CEO
Having been raised in a video store for the entirety of her childhood, Caitlin Conner is a massive movie buff. By the age of 8, she was working in her father’s video store selling movies, making recommendations, and catching every plothole there ever was. To this day she still loves to watch movies of all sorts, but her favorite type of movie is any kind that can evoke a real emotion within.
Growing up in a small town in Texas, there wasn’t much for Caitlin to do other than work at the video store or help out with the animals at home. She learned to escape and to live vicariously through watching movies. It wasn’t until she turned 24 years old that her life would change and somehow bring her back to her love of movies. She was in a life-changing motorcycle accident that nearly took her life. The loss of several loved ones around the same time of the accident would teach Caitlin how powerful loss is and it would forever shape the way she perceived the world around her. She found out at the time of the accident that she would not only lose her left leg but was also bearing a child. Today her little girl is 7 years old and full of life.
Caitlin now works in the realm of disabilities as an advocate and with her non-profit Be More Adaptive. She works with an agency called Skin I’m In Model & Talent Agency as a Disability Talent Scout to ensure that people with disabilities can be better represented in all forms of media. Caitlin also became a model and actor herself after losing her leg, a feat she never imagined she was capable of growing up. She hopes to one day create her own productions and has begun writing stories that encapsulate various themes around disability. Caitlin has experience as an authenticity reader and copy editor and looks to see disability on screens all over the world. She believes that disability shows no bias and that everyone in the world will have obtained their own disability at some point in their beautiful journey called life.
Santina Muha
ACTRESS SPEAKER PRODUCER
Santina Muha is a writer, actor, storyteller, host, speaker, comic, producer and avid Marshall’s shopper. She has written for Tiger Beat magazine, the National Spinal Cord Injury Association, the pop culture website HelloGiggles, and is a published essayist. Her comedic rap song and music video “A$$ Level,” which debuted on Elizabeth Banks’ comedy channel WhoHaha, has garnered the attention of both the disability community and the comedy community alike. In 2020, she co-hosted a panel with Amy Poehler entitled “Disability in Comedy.”
Santina has performed improv, stand-up, storytelling and sketch, and has had many successful comedic videos with Buzzfeed, Funny or Die!, and CollegeHumor. She is a regular performer at the Upright Citizens Brigade comedy theater, where she had a year long run with her one woman show “That Girl in the Wheelchair.” Her advocacy work is the reason many more comedy spaces are wheelchair accessible around L.A. She can be seen on several TV shows and in several films, including a recurring role on the sitcoms “One Day at a Time,” and “Dollface,” as well as a role opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the Gus Van Sant directed film “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot.”
Santina's successful interview show "Rollin' With My Homies" has recently moved from the stage to the internet. She is a frequent podcast guest, appearing on everything from comedy to beauty to inspirational podcasts and beyond. Her short film "Full Picture," which she co-wrote, co-produced and stars in, won Best Short Documentary at the SLO film festival, and has been featured at several other festivals. She is currently working on a book of essays based on stories from her life, as well as a few other TV and film projects. You can keep up with Santina's most current events by following her on Instagram and Twitter @SantinaMuha.
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MODERATOR
Dylan Rafaty
C-HEAR, INC. / HEAD OF ACCESSIBILITY STRATEGY & PARTNERSHIPS
Dylan M. Rafaty is a navigator, influencer, and disability rights activist committed to serving all people with disabilities in the cross-disability community. Because of his family roots, Dylan continues to devote his love for cultural diversity in communities since birth and is deeply well-connected across the globe due to his character, kindness, love for people, and passion.
He is a transformational leader, social entrepreneur, author, start-up executive who works across multiple industries and sectors in the United States and parts of the world to bridge alliances and collaborative partnerships. Dylan serves on many executive boards, including serving as Vice-Chair of the Texas Governor’s Committee for People with Disabilities and the Director of the United States International Council on Disabilities.
It’s because of these roles that he values the importance of lifting communities, organizations, businesses, academic and government entities thrive while opening doors of new opportunities including gaining access to services so all people can have an overall, better quality of life.
Dylan’s successes include bringing in new, innovative ideas to the table, merging organizations, mediating, and bringing communities together to create systemic change for a common goal, creating successful events and advocating on numerous fronts with key legislators while building and maintaining new relationships. Lastly, in 2020, Dylan was inducted into the Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame, named 2020 Oticon’s Focus on People Advocacy Award Winner, 2021 Dallas Business Journal’s Leaders in Diversity Award honoree, and 2021 Plano Chamber of Commerce’s Rising Star Award winner.
Dylan proudly works and a resident of Plano, Texas. Dylan is a special education graduate of Plano ISD, earned his A.A. degree at Collin College, B.S. degree in industrial and organizational psychology at the University of Phoenix, and the M.A. degree in dispute resolution program at Southern Methodist University.
SUNDAY @ 3:30 PM
ADDITIONAL SCREENING OF "KASSANDRA" AND LIVE Q&A FROM U.K. WITH FILMMAKER
IVAR WIGAN
Ivar Wigan is a Scottish fine art photographer and newly emerging film director. He recently signed with Academy Films in London. Ivar has lived and worked in the USA, making a series of images that document the Trap music world of the American South. His second project took him to Kingston Jamaica for two years where he created a body of photographs documenting Dancehall culture and titled, Young Love. This exhibition has been screened widely around the world. Kasandra is his first film.