Youth have always been at the forefront of change, whether by breaking the status quo, pushing for innovation, or heightening our expectations for a more sustainable, inclusive future.

During the 2025 Smithsonian Folklife Festival program, Youth and the Future Culture, the theme “The World We Want” embodied this by bringing together youth advocates who are using their talents to shape their—and our—future. One of these young artists was Samuel Habib, the filmmaker behind The Ride Ahead, a feature-length documentary he produced with Dan Habib, his father. The film builds upon his Emmy Award-winning op-doc, My Disability Roadmap.

Habib has GNAO1 Neurodevelopmental Disorder, a rare genetic disorder that caused cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and speech challenges. Because of his disorder, he travels via wheelchair and uses a computerized communication device to speak with others. His latest film project shares his and other disabled individuals’ stories to increase inclusion as well as give insight into the varied ways people interact with the world.

“Disabled people should have their voices heard, and we should be able to tell our own stories,” Habib said. “I don’t like that movies and stories about disabled people are often about curing, or saving, or even killing the person because they have a disability. Or you will see someone with a disability have an average talent at something and people will be ‘inspired’ and respond to the talent in a way they might not to someone that doesn’t have a disability.”

Habib’s filmmaking started early in his life—earlier than his dad, he proudly notes. In high school, he made a film titled Rolling Through Downtown Concord about rebuilding his hometown to create accessibility on Main Street. For a school project, he made a short movie about the famed disability rights activist Judy Heumann, who would become a mentor he interviewed in The Ride Ahead. He’s also conducted many interviews, including a series called “The Sports Sitdown,” published by the Concord Monitor, as well as questioned several political figures like then Vice President Joe Biden.

At that point, all of Habib’s filmmaking experiences had been journalistic. He wanted to do something different with his skills, so The Ride Ahead began to take shape. Learning how to be an adult and navigate the world is already difficult, but doing so with a disability adds more complications. His solution: get advice from mentors within the disabled community and film it all to share with others who may need the same guidance.

“It’s a very different experience making a personal documentary, but it’s helping me navigate the scary, confusing path after high school that I and millions of other young adults with disabilities face,” he expressed.

While a few people Habib interviewed were new faces, many were familiar people he’s long admired, such as disability activists Judy Heumann, Bob Williams, and Keith Jones. “All of the people I wanted to interview for this film are great advocates and role models for kids and young adults with disabilities,” he said. “I wanted to ask them and other people I admired about their transition to adulthood to help me and others be successful.”

Preparing for these interviews was arduous and time-consuming, and Habib made sure that labor was intentionally showcased in the film. If he was going to share diverse experiences from the disabled community, he was also going to show his own, both joyful and difficult.

“I spent weeks preparing for the interviews using my computerized communication device, which now has thousands of words and phrases programmed by my dad on dozens of pages,” he said. “We wanted to be transparent about this, [so we used] a scene in the film to show exactly how we, and also Bob Williams, navigate communication challenges with painstaking effort.”

Habib also applied this thought to the film’s camera angles. “I want audiences to feel what it’s like to see the world from my wheelchair, so we mounted two 4K GoPro cameras to my wheelchair—one facing me just below eye level, the other filming the world before me,” Habib explained.

This intentional vulnerability and honesty behind all aspects of the film wasn’t easy for Habib, but filming The Ride Ahead and meeting so many mentors within the disability community empowered him to share more about himself and his personal experiences.

“Some of the medical stuff was difficult to share,” he said. “I’ve had trauma from a lot of blood work and IVs from when I was a baby. It’s difficult to get my blood drawn. I get nervous when I have to go into the ER. It doesn’t feel good to talk about that, but I wanted to show my strength, that I’ve gotten through some very tough things in my life. Same for a lot of other people with disabilities.”

Producing the film took many people and their skills. Besides Habib, his father, and the interviewees, several producers, a social media manager, animators, and various others helped bring the film to fruition.

“Although we worked together as a team, each person involved with the production of this film has their strengths that we tried to highlight in different ways,” he said. “I have enjoyed being able to work with my dad so closely on something we are both very passionate about.”

“Also, we created an advisory board for this film project,” Habib added. “Everyone on the advisory board are young adults with disabilities. Advisory board members gave us awesome feedback on the film and for our educational materials and outreach and publicity campaigns.”

Habib has high hopes for The Ride Ahead and what it will do for the future. “We created this documentary and our impact campaign so that millions of young adults with disabilities will feel more seen and heard and find their mentors,” he expressed. “As someone who struggles to communicate, this film is incredibly meaningful to me because it is making my experience visible, and it is getting mine and others’ voices heard. I can’t wait to see how it changes the landscape. I think it’s going to help improve the world for disabled people.”

The Ride Ahead has already had a streaming run on PBS and a myriad of in-person screenings. The one at the Warner Bros. Theater in the National Museum of American History during the Folklife Festival, however, was special because two people featured in the film, Bob Williams and Ly Xīnzhèn Zhǎngsūn Brown, were able to be in the audience. Each screening that Habib attends, he noted, reaffirms the film’s purpose.

“I feel like my goals for the film are being achieved every time I watch it with an audience, like we did at the Festival,” Habib said. “My goal for the film is that people won’t talk down to disabled people. I want everyone to know that disabled people demand respect and rights, and I want other young adults with disabilities to have the same opportunities that I’ve had for health care, inclusive education, college, assistive technology, jobs, making friends, advocacy, and independent living.”

One of Habib’s greatest aspirations for the film is that it will spur greater inclusion within families and schools. “I hope parents who will watch this film will see that they should include their kids in everything like my family has done,” he said. “I hope schools and colleges who watch this film will commit to including disabled students alongside their non-disabled peers. All my schools have been inclusive, and that made a big impact on my education and led to my life now as a filmmaker.” 

Habib also hopes that The Ride Ahead will encourage people to communicate with members of the disability community, himself included, like any other person, just someone whose needs are different. “This film will help people understand how to talk to me and other people with communication challenges,” he expressed. “Be patient and do not talk down to me. Ask me how I best communicate. Slow down the pace of the conversation to create more space for me to contribute.”

While impact takes time, Habib noted that he has already started to see how his film is affecting his community.

“Young people with disabilities who have seen the film so far have told me that they have the same questions as I do about dating, sex, moving out of their own family’s home, how to respond when people talk down to them, work, and college,” he said. “That means a lot to me. I am part of a strong disability community. We want change and are going to fight for respect and rights at every opportunity. People paved the way for me. I want to pave the way for others.”

Shauri Thacker is a Folklife Storytellers Workshop intern focusing on writing and editing. She graduated from Southern Utah University last year with a bachelor’s degree in English, creative writing emphasis.