Loyola Marymount University faculty from across campus collaborated to create a film, “St. Declan’s and THE MAGIC CHAIR,” about an innovative Jesuit school for children with disabilities in Dublin, Ireland. The film will screen at Ahmanson Auditorium on Thurs. Feb. 20, at 6:30 p.m. followed by a panel discussion led by experts in various fields.
Children who attend St. Declan’s School have been failed by mainstream education and by attending the school they discover both self-confidence and their own unique abilities. After building these necessary tools, the children then return successfully to mainstream elementary schools.
Gregory Ruzzin, Associate Professor in Film and Television Production, was introduced to this special school by Victoria Graf, Professor Emeritus in the School of Education after she saw the premiere of Ruzzin’s 2011 film “Lost Child?.” Ruzzin made the film with and about his younger sister, Alyssa, who has a receptive language disorder/developmental disability and epilepsy. “People look at my sister as if she isn’t fully human,” said Ruzzin. “Like she isn’t a full person because she is different. And that is just wrong.”
Graf persuaded Ruzzin to fly to Dublin to visit St. Declan’s School and with very little information, he took a leap of faith and went. Once he got there, Ruzzin understood his vocation was to tell the story of the school. “When you walk into that place something moves you,” said Ruzzin. “There are sacred places in the world, places where the sanctity and beauty of life – all life, no matter how one is judged – is known and cherished. And St. Declan’s School is one of these places.” Ruzzin spent the next 10 years creating the film.
The film illustrates the struggle many students face at mainstream schools. “I hated school,” said Michael Power, a former student at St. Declan’s School who self-identified that he had dyslexia while he was in elementary school. “Going to school when you are that young age, sitting there for the entire day and being asked to do things you cannot do for reasons you can’t understand and then being blamed for things you don’t understand and are beyond your control … it’s not an easy life,” said Power. He credits St. Declan’s for changing the trajectory of his life. “The environment suits you.” Power is studying educational psychology, “I would love to set up a school using all the things I have learned throughout my life and that is designed properly, like this one [St. Declan’s].”
Teachers at St. Declan’s School meet each child as their needs require and unlock the children’s trust and passion for learning with empathy and kindness. In one part of the film the students read a poem they wrote, “We help each other work as a team. No one is smart as all of us it seems. We laugh, we play, we sing songs and do math. But, best of all we love to relax.”
“St. Declan’s and THE MAGIC CHAIR” chronicles a year at the school and weaves together documentary footage and animated shorts made by the students themselves. This film is a moving portrait of education’s highest values: passion, trust, and above all, hope.
This film is the unofficial kickoff to the conference “A Neighborly Conversation: Disability Studies in West Los Angeles,” starting Feb. 21, 2025, hosted by The Coelho Center Disability Law, Policy and Innovation at LMU that will highlight faculty and student research in Disability Studies at LMU and UCLA. The conference will include opportunities to engage with local organizations and community members working to serve the disabled community in West L.A.
The film will also be featured on Friday, Feb. 21, as part of the Film Showcase at the Religious Education Congress in the Anaheim Convention Center Hall 201 at 7:45 p.m. The showcase is an evening forum for the exhibition and discussion of cinematic work grounded in Catholic social teaching, social justice, ministry, spirituality, and theology.
Ruzzin is also working on a committee comprised of thought leaders from across the nation to write a white paper on leadership at Jesuit schools. “Just the fact that the President of the AJCU has said we need to put disability to the front of the conversation is a victory,” said Ruzzin. Watch the trailer to “St. Declan’s and THE MAGIC CHAIR”.