Press Articles
From The State Journal-Register - September, 2009
“The framework that society has set up for people with disabilities is meant to help them. Diana Braun and Kathy Conour found it suffocating.” Thus began a 1999 story I wrote about two remarkable women who became as one...
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From The Chapel Hill News - March, 2008
The Arc of Orange County, approaching its 30th anniversary, continues its long history of promoting full community participation in areas of life for individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
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From Educational Media Reviews Online - March, 2008
At first glance, Body and Soul: Diana and Kathy seems like any other well made documentary about the courageous lives of two disabled women in a unique situation. Kathy has severe cerebral palsy and her caretaker of 38 years, Diana, has Down Syndrome. As their individual stories unfold, filmmaker Alice Elliott seamlessly morphs a typical inspirational piece into the quintessential disability rights film.
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From The Catalyst, Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities in Illinois - December 2007 - January 2008
The story of Diana and Kathy's life is an extraordinary one. Long before civil rights laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, the pair were forging ahead into unexplored territory
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From the State Journal-Register - November, 2007
Documentary about two women with disabilities to be shown here
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From the Iroquois County Times Republic - November, 2007
Oscar nominated filmmaker documents the lives of two Springfield activists
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From the Journal News in Lower Hudson Valley, NY - August, 2007
It's unlikely that any movie released this year will feature characters more remarkable than Kathy Conour and Diana Braun. The subjects of a moving new documentary from director Alice Elliott, the unlikely cinematic heroes are waging a war for their lives - and the lives of many others.
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From the State Journal Register in Springfield, IL - August, 2004
There is still room in the movie industry for a good story. Filmmaker Alice Elliott has found one in Springfield. Elliott’s directorial debut, “The Collector of Bedford Street,” was nominated for an Academy Award in 2003 for Best Documentary Short Subject (“Twin Towers” was the Oscar winner that year). She showed her movie at a national conference for people who work with the disabled in November 2002. She didnt know it, but her next movie was waiting for her there.
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From the State Journal Register in Springfield, IL - July 25, 2004
Kathy Conour and Diana Braun love to travel. They have been abroad and they
have gone around the country, both for pleasure and to attend association meetings for
the rights of the disabled, which they both are. But because of an unjust Medicare regulation, their traveling days are in jeopardy. They are under a sort of home confinement, as if they were criminals.
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From the State Journal Register in Springfield, IL - September 14, 2003
Nearly 40 members of the disabled community gathered Friday night at the Near North Village apartment building to meet with state Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, who serves on the task force charged with reopening the former LDC [Lincoln Developmental Center].
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From State Journal Register in Springfield Illinois - October 10, 1999
Thirty years ago they [Diana & Kathy] found each other and formed what Diana calls “our team”. They left the traditional world of the disabled behind and moved into an apartment. They were on their own for the first time.
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From The State Journal Register, Springfield, IL March 16, 1998
Forced to spend most of her childhood in a state-run institution, Diana Braun vowed to
someday help shut down the places she calls “jail houses.”
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