Tell Them You Love Me

From the beginning, it was made clear that, to tell this story, we had to present all angles and involve all those who were part of it. Newark ethics professor originally convicted in 2015 of sexually assaulting Derrick Johnson, a nonverbal man with cerebral palsy. The two met in 2009 through his brother, John Johnson, a student of Stubblefield's. After John Johnson approached the professor, then 39, about his brother's condition, Stubblefield offered to help Derrick Johnson, then 28, with his communication skills. He soon learned to use a keyboard with an LED screen to type and, with Stubblefield's assistance, began taking a university class. The film explores the unsettling case of Dr. Anna Stubblefield, a white Rutgers University philosophy professor and disability theorist who began working with Derrick Johnson, a non-verbal Black man with cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities, using a scientifically questionable method to help him communicate. That method, called Facilitated Communication, involves supporting the hand of a person with motor skill issues so they can point to letters on a board or tap letters on a keyboard to express thoughts.

I do think that what Ana did with Derek is disgusting, I can't even imagine the scene in her office with him.

However, I am very angry at Derek's family too, including mother and brother.

Derek was masturbating, so what if he was? Doesn't he have the right to do so?

I know that being sexually abused can cause people to masturbate excessively and that's a different thing, but just because he is masturbating when he is 40 in an adult body and you still think he is 2 years old and can't forget going with him to hospitals doesn't mean he is not a human being with instincts and needs.

The brother was also often irrational being on mother's side and focused on defeating Ana at any cost. I felt very angry that they did not talk about how Derek was affected by all of this, the trial, and separation from Ana , because even he didn't love her the way Ana says, there was a bond and attachment created between them that I am sure caused him much distress and pain after separation.

And the fact that the jury or other people can't even imagine a severely disabled person being loved by someone who is not disabled or loving someone himself is very undermining of the worth of people with disability and their capacities.

This documentary really threw me for a loop. I went into it expecting a classic cut-and-dry true crime doc, but it ended up leaving me with an empty feeling in my throat. This, because either way the cookie crumbles, someone is suffering.

It began with a great story of a man and a woman working on the man's ability to communicate, and overturned into something completely different.

I really loved the way this was filmed, and how it really gives you, the viewer, a chance to see where you fall in the (unfortunate) black and white world of disability. I hope it generates more awareness of the polarizing effect so many people with disabilities face.

"Tell Them You Love Me" is guaranteed to blow your mind. This thought-provoking documentary tells the extraordinary and controversial story of Anna Stubblefield and Derrick Johnson, challenging our perceptions of disability and consent. Anna, an esteemed university professor, claimed to unlock Derrick's mind from his body through facilitated communication, sparking a complex and shocking relationship that led to a sensational criminal trial. The film skillfully uses exclusive footage and interviews to create a narrative that is as riveting as it is nuanced, exploring deep themes of communication, race, and sexuality.

"Tell Them You Love Me" sucks you in from the very start, making it impossible to take your eyes off the screen. The way it's filmed captures the raw and unexpected turns of this fascinating case in human psychology, offering a unique perspective on true crime. It draws you into a story that is both shocking and profoundly interesting. The documentary not only highlights the ethical and legal dilemmas faced by those involved but also raises important questions about the nature of love and agency in the context of severe disability. This is a must-watch for anyone interested in the complexities of human psychology.

Why did the judge not ask Derrick to answer questions with the help of the keyboard after passing the simple IQ-test where Derrick is shown an apple and the keyboard assistant/facilitator is shown a spoon? If the answer would have been "apple" then the real questioning could proceed. If the answer would be "spoon" then we know the facilitator talks. Alternatively, the assistant/facilitator should not have been shown a picture of apple/spoon at all. It's Derrick that needed to answer in court, right? It looks like Anna was talking to herself through her patient Derrick. By letting Derrick move away from his home to a new home (with Anna) the gov subsidies would have moved too. Anna gets out of an unhappy marriage and becomes a heroine that made an intellectual out of a non-verbal man that was over-protected / locked away by his mom and bro for way too long. It's so simple : let Derrick prove in court that he really wrote those essays etc? Most probably the judge and jury saw that Derrick really wasn't and will never be capable. That's how Anna ended up in jail.