I can't accept we're led to believe a mentally disabled individual suffering from a severe case of cerebral palsy - who was evaluated multiple times prior to his exposure to Anna Stubblefield and deemed to posses the intellectual capacity of a baby - would miraculously make an astronomical leap from the inability to associate basic inanimate objects when given verbal cues to somehow expressing argumentative critique on academic subjects. Huh?

It takes years of education to learn language - vocabulary, grammar, syntax - let alone development in logic and critical thinking. Derrick can't identify a spoon, but somehow can give a salient review on Harriot Jacobs now? Give me a break.

The director egregiously misses an opportunity to confront Stubblefield on this premise, and the documentary is significantly weakened because of it. She is instead able to justify her actions with dubious claims like "I'm not guilty If the accusation is I have some weird perversion that makes me want to molest helpless, intellectually impaired people." Redeeming.

The nuance rather is Stubblefield shows various signs of self-interest (having published work on FC in the journal Disability Studies Quarterly), and elements of sociopathy and psychopathy. This can be a diabolical cocktail for crime, although seemingly innocent on the surface.

I had such a hard time watching this. The way it's laid out, you're on this journey of "yeah.... facilitated communication sounds helpful" to "WTAF did this woman do?!?"

Essentially, Anna is in a position of power and influence within the accessibility community, and she makes the decision to have relations with one of the people she's helping. Derrick, a nonverbal adult with CP, is introduced to Anna by his brother John, who was one of Anna's students. In the end, she's convinced that they're in love because they've bonded while she was using an assistive keyboard.

Daisy and John, Derrick's family, are devastated to learn that Derrick was not communicating with anyone, he was being manipulated by Anna. I saw one reviewer say that Facilitated Communication is akin to a Ouija Board. Yes. This is junk science, and they do a great job of decoding that fact in this doc.

In the end, I was repulsed by what Anna did, and even more upset that apparently she sees nothing wrong with what she did to Derrick. It's baffling.

The reviewers here trying to justify a woman in a position of power over someone disabled... is beyond disturbing to me. Take out race, even take out mental functioning... you still have somone in a position of power and trust taking advantage of their position. It's an absolute no-go for any professional.

Anna is a raging narcissist and manipulator. That's pretty clear. They weren't in a 'relationship'. There can be no 'relationship' in such an unequal power dynamic.

I think anyone with an ounce of common sense will see that this situation is inappropriate at best, illegal for certain, and diabolical at worst.