Left Behind (2025)
Join us for a post-screening Q&A with filmmaker Anna Toomey and Ruth Genn, Executive Director of Literacy Academy Collective!
Left Behind tells the powerful story of a group of passionate mothers who unite to create the first public dyslexic school in New York City, the largest school district in the country.
Dyslexia impacts one in five children worldwide, yet while 20% of the population has this learning difference, a staggering 48% of incarcerated individuals are dyslexic. Families without financial means often lack access to essential testing and tailored curricula their children desperately need. In a city like New York, where 70% of students are Black and Brown, around 200,000 children are left without the support they need to thrive. Kareem Weaver, who heads the Education Committee for the NAACP in Oakland, CA, and a key figure in this film, calls this the defining civil rights issue of our time.
Dyslexia is not a barrier to success; many high-profile dyslexics—including 35% of entrepreneurs, filmmakers, musicians, and actors—prove that. Their unique brain wiring can hinder letter recognition but enhance creativity, risk-taking, and innovative thinking. This film emphasizes the loss of potential brilliance and showcases a group of mothers fighting for equality in our education system. They aim to spark outrage, inspire hope, and ignite a desire for action among viewers.
