Disabled activist sharged

Corty Woods, a politically-seasoned, mentally challenged activist, along with two staff members of The Life Experience School in Sherborn, were charged with trespassing while engaging in civil disobedience at the opening of the DreamWorks’ film Tropic Thunder at the AMC Cinemas in Framingham, MA on August 14, 2008.

As movie theaters around the country featured the controversial film TROPIC THUNDER, disability rights groups nationwide gathered at ticket booths to urge movie goers to boycott the film which they feel insults those with intellectual challenges and trivializes and perpetuates the use of the word “retard.”

Corty Woods of Quincy, MA, Lewis Randa, director of The Life Experience School, and son Mike, both of Sherborn, MA, walked out of the film following the segment they deemed “beyond offensive." They sat on the floor in the middle of the lobby to encourage ticket buyers to boycott the film. Corty’s sign read, TROPIC THUNDER IS INSULTING AND HURTFUL TO ME AND OTHERS.

Before being charged with trespassing by the Framingham Police Department, Corty Woods spoke about what it feels like to be called a “retard”. In tears, he told the manager of the Theater and passersby “I won’t be quiet and let movies make fun of people -- and people who make money making fun of being retarded should be ashamed of themselves.”

Cortland Woods, Lewis Randa and Mike Randa will be arraigned in Framingham District Court and plan to invite disability rights groups to join them in the courtroom as they go on record objecting to Hollywood’s abusive treatment of the disabled. The film, they claim, “trespassed” on accepted standards of decency and fair treatment of those in society that have fought so hard and
for so long to win the respect of members of the community.

Both Corty Woods and Lewis Randa were previously arrested on Valentine’s Day in 2000 on the steps of the Massachusetts State House protesting the name of the department that funds The Life Experience School: the Massachusetts Department of Mental Retardation. The Commonwealth has yet to enact a name change. Corty Woods has championed this cause in Massachusetts for over 10 years.