From the Wall Street Journal:

New York’s Museum of Modern Art conducts tours for people with visual impairments, encouraging them to don disposable gloves and explore selected works. The tours have been going on for 35 years. Other museums offering similar programs include Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, the Art Institute of Chicago and New York’s Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

“I’ve had people say ‘how can you give tours to the blind?” said [lecturer Richard] Turnbull, who in addition to his chores at MoMA is chairman of the art history department at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “They don’t understand it’s possible to appreciate art in ways that are not entirely visual. People who actually can see a work don’t see it the same way another sighted person does, so in a lot of ways this program is all about the plurality of experience that people have with works of art.”

From the Seattle Times:

Wil Kerner (left) builds elaborate and expressive artwork using construction paper and scissors.

What the autistic 12-year-old can’t express verbally or in social interaction he can show through his carefully cut out geometric shapes assembled into characters in a paper collage, a talent the staff at Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center calls a rare artistic gift. Large red circles become heads, delicate strips of fringed white paper become hair, and finely cut arches are shaped into eyebrows.

The art — and the artist — intrigues those who study autism. Dr. Stephen Dager, interim director of the University of Washington’s Autism Center, who has been studying brain anatomy and chemistry in autism, is mystified by Wil’s artistic talents. Autistic people generally pay little attention to eyes during social interaction, studies show, and usually are unaware of others’ emotions. Yet, Wil has the ability to mimic human emotion through his art.

Kids boost social skills by teaching pets

From CBS Early Show:

Dog trainer Kathy Santo has started a program called “Paws Four Autism” that helps kids in New Jersey connect with others by learning to train their family pets. She says the program helps kids learn to maintain eye contact with their dogs, which in turn helps them develop relationships with people.

Santo demonstrates her techniques in a video on the CBS site that also features student trainers Gower Nibley and Brittany Wilkes.

A link on the site carries resources about autism for families. Sadly, its use of language is not always sensitive — one page leads readers to “notable sufferers,” including Thomas Edison and Jane Austen.

Melissa Riggio, whose life helped prompt the publishing industry to pay more attention to the expanding market of people with disabilities and their families, died Monday of leukemia, her family announced today. The daughter of Barnes & Noble CEO Steve Riggio, she was 20.

Ms. Riggio, who had Down syndrome, was the inspiration for Barnes & Noble’s creation of a special section of books about children with special needs. In an interview with the New York Times in 1991, Mr. Riggio said he realized after his daughter’s birth that books about children with disabilities were scarce and often difficult to locate.

That year, when Ms. Riggio was three, the company celebrated the nationwide debut of its “Children with Special Needs Collection.” It contained about four dozen titles about disabilities like autism, cerebral palsy, dyslexia and speech and hearing impairments, most of which were not widely circulated.

Mr. Riggio said at the time that he hoped the company’s efforts would lead to the publication of more books about childhood disabilities. (more…)

‘For Rachel Barton Pine, out to resurrect her career, time has stood still since her tragic accident. Unfortunately, the world has not’

From the Chicago Tribune, a major profile of Rachel Barton Pine. The violin prodigy became news around the world in 1995 when the strap of her violin case got caught in the door of a commuter train in Winnetka and she was dragged 300 feet along the track. The accident severed one leg and shattered the other.

Pine underwent many surgeries that broke her momentum and stalled her concert career. Then, when she was ready to return to performing, presenters shied away from booking her because concert halls could not accommodate people in wheelchairs or on crutches. A legal settlement pays her medical bills and Pine, now off crutches, is performing regularly, “one of the most accomplished violinists of her generation.”

(more…)

All but 5 of 41 cast members have developmental disabilities, but each one feels ‘Footloose’

An intimate and perceptive piece by Drew Jubera in the Atlanta Journal Constitution about a local theater production starring people with intellectual disabilities.

Some quotes to ponder:

“I’m a bagger by morning, an actor at night.” Katie Rouille, 27

“A lot of people say I can’t do something, and I just say I can. I’m determined that way.” Cynthia Outman, 31, who has Down syndrome

“I do it for the same reason real actors do it: to get away from who I am and be someone else. It’s challenging every day to do things. But this shows people with disabilities ‘you can do it.’ Linda Danzig, 57

“These are the people behind the bakery counter in Publix or bagging your groceries who you may not have noticed until they came here and are under the lights. It does for them what theater does for anybody. The shy checkout girl who takes a theater class and finds her voice.” Kim Goodfriend, the theater’s founding producer

“There are more similarities than differences. Every actor is sensitive. They’re ripping their chest cavity open and exposing themselves to failure. ” Dina Shadwell, the theater’s director

Couple with disabilities are silver medalists in Chinese national dance competition

On Youtube, a must-see performance that has gotten more than 4 million views so far. Text from the China Daily:

An unexpected pair of dazzling new stars rose from the CCTV [Chinese national television] Dance Contest. “Hand in Hand,” performed by disabled dancers Ma Li and Zhai Xiaowei, moved and inspired audiences with the performers’ dedication and talent.

Hand in Hand was the first entry from disabled dancers among the four contests to date. Both of the dancers had lost limbs in car accidents; Ma Li lost her right arm, and Zhai Xiaowei his left leg.

An interview with the performers, with English translation, is available here. Last year, it says, Ma Li and Zhai Xiaowei

were finalists among 7000 competitors in the 4th CCTV national dance competition. It is the first time a handicapped couple ever entered the competition. They won the Silver medal with the 99.17 high score and not to mention the highest audience popular votes.