Our Team
Cassidy Dimon
Executive Director | She/They
Cassidy Dimon is the Executive Director of FWD-Doc a global, intersectional community of over 1200 disabled creators and allies working in media to build a more inclusive, accessible, and equitable entertainment industry. She is the founder of the Film Event Accessibility Working Group (FEAW), a collective that harnesses the collaborative power of event professionals to help film exhibitors across the country develop and execute accessible film events.
She is one of the creators of the groundbreaking accessibility tool, the Film Event Accessibility Scorecard, and co-author of the Accessibility Scorecard Impact Report released in June 2024. Cassidy was recently selected as one of ten Leaders for a New Chicago 2024 by the Field and MacArthur Foundations.
Favorite Disability Media: “As an elder Millennial, I consume most of my social media through Instagram, and the disability influencers, activists and media personalities are my go-to's for laughter, information and action items, including Imani Barbarin, Sara Nović, Isabel Mavrides-Calderó, Anthony S. Ferraro, HiFi Deafie, and Tina Friml. Also, Alice Wong and her Disability Visibility and Disability Intimacy books are my go-to ‘Disability 101s’ for anyone looking to learn about the disability experience, and I return back to them often.
Chile Ocha
Community Impact & Strategy Manager | They/Elle
Chile Ochoa (pronounced chee-leh) is a weaver, builder, caregiver, and storyteller. These roles are rooted in the identities they hold close — being K’iche’ Maya, disabled, queer, trans, and non-binary — as well as their professional experiences in social work, education, and film. They believe in sustainable systems rooted in care, collective input, and mutual aid. They trust these values to help nurture spaces and structures that not only support marginalized communities today but also build power for ongoing growth, healing, and empowerment.
As a practicing artist, Chile enjoys using performance and avant-garde theatre to capture candid, awkward, and meaningful life experiences. Their work has included visual and multimedia projects exhibited across the West Coast, as well as curated film programs for the Seattle Queer Film Festival, Festival of (In)Appropriation, and Black Cinema Collective. They’ve also nurtured the growth of independent filmmakers at Sundance Institute by leading their public programs, and most recently, at Full Spectrum Features, where Chile rebuilt an 18-month film fellowship program, Community Storytellers.
Favorite Disability Media: “I'm currently re-reading Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's Care Work. It's a radical piece of community knowledge that maps the landscape of an accessible and sustainable future for queer and trans disabled people of the global majority. I also love Sins Invalid because, as a performance artist, it's important to support and witness stories told by bodies that reflect my own.”
Lissa Deonarain
Communications Director | She/They
Lissa Deonarain (LISS-uh) is an emerging queer, genderfluid, disabled, multiracial Guyanese American documentary filmmaker, editor and communications specialist from Omaha and Ponca land (Omaha, NE). She consults with FWD-Doc as the Communications Director, using design and digital content to shift narratives and move people toward meaningful change. They work on communications and design with renowned documentary organizations like Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Multitude Films, BIPOC EuroDoc, The Gotham and more. She has produced and edited dozens of shorts and nonfiction series both nationally and internationally for award-winning directors, and edited for major brands, popular content creators and national organizations.
Their films are deeply rooted in social justice and explore themes such as identity, belonging, memory, and community, largely inspired by her own experiences. Her notable works include DOUBLE DIASPORA (2018), A RECKONING IN BOSTON (Big Sky 2021) and THE UNFIXING (JI.HLAVA 2024). She is currently producing a documentary about a farm sanctuary in Iowa with director Josh LaBure.
Favorite Disability Media: “As an avid gamer, I love watching streamers like hummingmints and queerlybee on Twitch, and love all of the gamers fighting for more representation and accessibility in video games.”
Jo Lakatos
Development Manager | She/Her
Joanna Lakotos — who also goes by Jo — supports FWD-Doc’s mission as a part-time Development Manager, bringing 20+ years of experience in nonprofit management, development and marketing communications with a deep and long-standing interest in media, the arts and social change (especially documentaries and horror films). Jo has spent over a decade working with media and storytelling organizations in Chicago and beyond, like Kartemquin Films, ConTextos and Full Spectrum Features, in addition to previously working on independent documentaries. She has called Chicago home for over two decades and lives in the West Town neighborhood with her partner and spicy tortoiseshell cat, Emma Goldman.
Favorite Disability Media: “In the current climate and threats to healthcare for so many, I have been soaking up so much wisdom and intersectional issue learning from Beatrice Adler-Bolton’s podcast, The Death Panel. I’m also reading Stefanie Foo’s book, What My Bones Know, which feels like a balm for anyone looking for new ways of thinking about trauma and mental health.”
Our Board
Jim LeBrecht
Board President & Co-Founder | He/Him
Jim LeBrecht has over 45 years of experience as a film and theater sound designer and mixer, filmmaker, podcast host, author, and disability rights activist. LeBrecht co-directed and co-produced, with Nicole Newnham, CRIP CAMP, the 2021 Oscar-nominated feature-length documentary. CRIP CAMP received the 2020 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for feature length documentary, the 2021 Independent Spirit award for Best Feature Documentary and a 2021 Peabody Award. Jim has co-founded two organizations that support creatives with disabilities in the entertainment industry: FWD-Doc, an organization that supports documentary filmmakers, and the 1in4 Coalition, whose work focuses more on advocacy in narrative film and television.
He is an executive producer on the Emmy-winning documentary PATRICE: THE MOVIE, and the upcoming biopic BEING HEUMANN, about disability rights legend Judy Heumann for Apple TV+. LeBrecht directed the documentary CHANGE NOT CHARITY: THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT for PBS’ American Experience. Jim is a member of the Disability Futures Fellowship, an initiative of the Ford Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. He is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and BAFTA.
Favorite Disability Media: “In the current climate and threats to healthcare for so many, I have been soaking up so much wisdom and intersectional issue learning from Beatrice Adler-Bolton’s podcast, The Death Panel. I’m also reading Stefanie Foo’s book, What My Bones Know, which feels like a balm for anyone looking for new ways of thinking about trauma and mental health.”
Day Al-Mohamed
Board Member & Co-Founder | She/Her
Day Al-Mohamed has a decades-long policy career with a focus on marginalized and disenfranchised populations. A former White House Director of Disability Policy, Day designed and led the Department of Labor’s "Add Us In" initiative to increase hiring in minority communities. She had an active role in passing the Affordable Care Act and Hate Crimes Prevention Act. She also has worked at the United Nations. Currently a senior policy advisor with the federal government, she has a proven ability to translate policy into public trust and aligning vision, systems, and culture to influence political will and cultural narratives for positive impact.
As a creative, Day is a regular host on Idobi Radio's pop-culture show Geek Girl Riot, and creator of PBS American Masters series RENEGADES. THE INVALID CORPS, a documentary about disabled veterans' contributions during the Civil War, was her first documentary as a blind filmmaker and she produced the Independent Spirit Award-winner UNSEEN. She is co-founder of FWD-Doc, and has written two novels: Baba Ali and the Clockwork Djinn, and The Labyrinth's Archivist, as well as multiple short stories and essays. Day lives in Washington DC with her wife NR Brown, daughter Baby Dragon, and guide dog.
Favorite Disability Media: “My usual: FINDING NEMO”
Lindsey Dryden
Board Secretary & Co-Founder | She/Her
Lindsey Dryden is an Emmy-winning, Sundance-supported, Oscar-shortlisted producer, director, executive producer, and co-founder of FWD-Doc. With films on Netflix, PBS, BBC, Channel 4, Criterion Channel, Conde Nast’s them, and the New Yorker, as well as at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, Hot Docs, CPH:Dox, and Frameline, her work explores radical bodies, LGBTQ+ lives, and D/deaf and disabled perspectives.
Lindsey produced two-time Webby- and Emmy-winning TRANS IN AMERICA (2019), Sundance Special Jury Award-winning UNREST (2017), and SXSW-debuting THE TALLEST DWARF (2025) and SHE LOOKS LIKE ME (2024). She directed QUEER FUTURES' THE CALLERS (2024), JACKIE KAY (2017), LOST AND SOUND (2012), and CLOSE YOUR EYES AND LOOK AT ME (2009).
She consulted on Apple TV+'s DEAF PRESIDENT NOW! and Netflix's HEART OF INVICTUS. She also mentors brilliant disabled talent including Jessi Gutch, Yasmin Godo, Kate Caryer and Penn Balint. Lindsey is a voting member of AMPAS and BAFTA, the 2025 SXSW Janet Pierson Champion Award winner, a 2024 Concordia Fellow, 2022 Sundance Documentary Producers Lab Fellow, and part of BFI’s Disability Screen Advisory Group. She was lead creator of the FWD-Doc Toolkit for Inclusion & Accessibility with Kyla Harris and numerous FWD-Doc members.
Favorite Disability Media: “There's so many incredible pieces of disability media that I LOVE, and talent whose new projects I'm always eagerly awaiting, like Kyla Harris, Reid Davenport, Matilda Feyisayo Ibini, Ella Glendining — they just have voices that light up the landscape. Right now I'm most obsessed with Kyla Harris and Lee Getty’s WE MIGHT REGRET THIS, Shoshannah Stern’s MARLEE MATLIN: NOT ALONE ANYMORE, Nyle Dimarco and David Guggenheim’s DEAF PRESIDENT NOW!, and an old favourite, María Belén Poncio & Rosario Perazolo Masjoan’s 4 FEET HIGH.”
Alysa Nahmias
Board Treasurer & Co-Founder | She/Her
Alysa Nahmias is an Emmy Award-winning director, producer, and founder of the LA-based production company AJNA Films. Her directing credits include ART & KRIMES BY KRIMES (MTV/Paramount+), UNFINISHED SPACES (Netflix/PBS), which won a 2012 Independent Spirit Award and is in the permanent collection at the MoMA in New York, and the acclaimed documentary about Laszlo Moholy-Nagy THE NEW BAUHAUS (2019).
She produced Melissa Lesh and Trevor Beck Frost’s Emmy-winning WILDCAT (2022), Jennifer Brea's Sundance-winning UNREST (2017), and Nancy Buirski's and AFTERNOON OF A FAUN (2013). She's also been on the producing teams for HOMEGROWN (2024), THE TUBA THIEVES (2023), I DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE (2021), and WHAT WE LEFT UNFINISHED (2019), among others. Alysa is a frequent creative advisor for Sundance Catalyst, the Film Independent Documentary Lab, and Global Media Makers. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and a Co-Founder and Board Treasurer of FWD-Doc. Alysa lives with her partner, their two children, one new kitten, and an elderly cat who’s still frisky.
Favorite Disability Media: “In addition to all of the recent fabulous films coming out of the FWD-Doc community such as RENEGADES, PATRICE: THE MOVIE, DEAF PRESIDENT NOW!, THE TUBA THIEVES, and LIFE AFTER, some of the most powerful pieces of disability media for me are the paintings of Frida Kahlo, which I first encountered as a child while visiting my extended family in Mexico City. I remember admiring Frida's limitless imagination and talent, wishing to be like her when I grew up. Although I didn't have words for it at the time, on some level, her art communicated the pride she felt for who she was and the ways she was fighting ableism and sexism from an intersectional perspective with the works she created, and in her life itself.”
Kyla Harris
Board Member | Any Pronouns
Kyla Harris is an award-winning writer, actor and producer whose work cultivates inclusion to create connection. She is chair of We Crip Film at the British Film Institute, a BAFTA member and a board member of FWD-DOC.
Among others, their work has been featured in British VOGUE, The Guardian, Stylist, the Royal Television Society and the New York Times. They co-wrote, co-created and starred in the comedy drama television series WE MIGHT REGRET THIS, for BBC TWO. She was awarded BAFTA Breakthrough 2024 and was nominated for a BAFTA in the Emerging Talent category. She produced the feature documentary PATRICE: THE MOVIE that premiered at Toronto International Film Festival, was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award, won a 2025 Emmy Award and is available on Disney+ and Hulu in the United States.
Favorite Disability Media: “I adore the blog called Leaving Evidence by thought leader and disability activist Mia Mingus. Their words and intersectional perspective continue to impact me.”
Amanda Upson
Board Member | She/Her
Amanda Upson transitioned from employment law to independent filmmaking, bringing legal acumen, strategic leadership, and a mission-driven lens to storytelling. Her debut feature premiered at the Virginia Film Festival and secured wide release. She produced a PBS-broadcast documentary honored with a Better Angels Lavine Fellowship and serves as a consulting producer for PBS’ American Masters. As series producer of the Webby–winning RENEGADES, she led the creation of the VIA Incubator, PBS’ first incubator for disabled filmmakers, bringing 24 disabled creatives into the public media ecosystem. As interim director of FWD-Doc, she guided its growth to become a nonprofit with global reach and spearheaded the industry-adopted Accessibility Scorecard.
Amanda is a recognized leader in inclusion and accessibility in media, presenting at SXSW, DOCNYC, IDFA, EFM, and Realscreen. She was selected for RespectAbility’s Entertainment Lab in 2021, and for Realscreen’s DIALOG Mentorship and DOC NYC’s New Leaders in 2022. A University of Virginia alumna, she mentors students, attorneys, and filmmakers, co-founded the Denver Mother Attorney Mentoring Association, and was appointed to Colorado’s Task Force on Attorney Well-Being. Named one of Forbes 40 Women to Watch Over 40, she is admitted to the US Supreme Court Bar and serves on the Board of FWD-Doc.
Favorite Disability Media: “I will pick RENEGADES. We were able to work with a record number of talented disabled creatives in the production. Season one of RENEGADES, we had 24 disabled creatives on the core team and much more on all the field teams. As predicted, the team was able to create an award-winning series, which resulted in high audience engagement and new audience to American Masters, becoming some of their most watched digital content. Our 5-word Webby Award acceptance says it all: ‘Disability disrupts. People show up.’”