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A Center for Independent Living

Local shines positive light on disabilities

Makenzie Ellsworth, a Magic Valley resident who was injured in an automobile accident when she was 15, is also a wheelchair tennis player and an avid Cross Fit participant. Simply put, Ellsworth is an athlete, one who makes pull-ups look easy. Ellsworth is also a program coordinator at St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center, where she is a member of the safety and well-being team.

And now Ellsworth is adding Actress to her resume. Ellsworth is featured in the movie “Making Sense,” which was filmed and produced in Idaho and can be viewed on multiple platforms. The film is intended to be the first independent feature film to represent five elements of disability, played by disabled actors.

Doug Cole, who wrote the story 12 years ago, and the producers of the film chose to use disabled actors that each represented one of the five primary senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. Ellsworth plays a character lacking the sense of touch.

“She’s incredible,” Cole said. “Her attitude is: ‘I had a car crash when I was 15 years old. It is what it is, and now I’m going to be a positive influence for people from here on out.’

The plot is about an aging neuroscientist facing the deterioration of his own cognitive senses and teams up with a group of young grad students in an attempt to find the key to remapping brain function, only to uncover something far more extraordinary.

Though this will probably be her only acting gig, Ellsworth is proud of the work she put in – and the film’s message. “It was fun to be able to expose the world to the idea that people with disabilities … we’re definitely not normal, but we’re still pretty cool,” she said.

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