John Schaffer(II)

John Schaffer was raised in Chester township in northeastern Ohio. In 1992, John earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati. In 2006, he earned a Master's Degree in Special Education from Northern Arizona University. Shortly thereafter, he began teaching within the Disability Studies program at Northern Arizona University. John has had a lifelong passion for filmmaking which went from a hobby to a profession with the release of his first film festival film, Vectors of Autism: a documentary about Laura Nagle (2012). That film played in festivals worldwide and won five awards. Since then, John has continued to make films about neurodivergent individuals and other people with disabilities with several playing in multiple film festivals. Besides his disability films, John has produced a dozen or so short documentaries around topics related to southwestern USA fire science. In his spare time, John likes to explore the wild areas of the western United States, particularly where sedimentary rocks can be found.