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In recent discussion amoung senior staff of the Association we discussed the concept of disability and hero.  The case of Vincent van Gogh is an interesting case in point.  Vincent Van Gogh lived a short life of 37 years  (1853 – 1890). His paintings had a far-reaching influence on 20 century art for their vivid colors and emotional impact. He received little recognition during his lifetime. Today, he is widely regarded as one of history’s greatest painters, producing over 900 paintings and 1,100 drawings and sketches. Although he was little known during his lifetime, his work was a strong influence on the modernist art that followed. Today many of his paintings are among the world’s most recognizable and expensive works of art, fetching multlple millions. 

Van Gogh’ felt he had found his true vocation as a minister or missionary but failed both academically and failed to impress the Church hiearchy. In January 1879, he took a temporary post as a missionary. Taking Christianity seriously, Van Gogh chose to live like those he preached to—sharing their hardships and sleeping on straw.  His choice of squalid living conditions appalled the church hiearchy who dismissed him for “undermining the dignity of the priesthood.”  His father; Theodorus thought about having his son committed to a lunatic asylum.

Van Gogh did not begin painting until his late twenties, and most of his best-known works were produced during his final two years. He suffered from anxiety and increasingly frequent bouts of mental illness throughout his life. In December 1888, frustrated and ill Van Gogh cut off the lower part of his left ear lobe. Days later, Van Gogh was hospitalized and left in a critical state for several days.Van Gogh suffered a severe setback in December 1889 and the episodes became more pronounced during his last few years. His depression gradually deepened and at age 37 shot himself and died there two days later. Over 150 psychiatrists have label his illness with some 30 different diagnoses including schizophrenia , bipolar disorder, syphilis, poisoning from swallowed paints, epilepsy and acute intermittent porphyria, anyone of which was also aggravated by malnutrition, overwork, insomnia and a fondness for alcohol.

In modern parlance few would deny that Van Gogh had a disability  To what extent did his disability affect his work is still in disputes. Was he merely an brilliant artist who had a disability or  was he “abled differently”. During his lifetime few, possibly himself included saw him as a person of value. After his death some would see him as a “victim”. V for victim, value or Vincent? That is the question?

Recently I purchased a book by Grandin Temple “Animals in Translation”. In reading her book I began to realize some things that she had in common with Alivin Law.  They were both regarded highly articulate, direct in communication and after thinking about it - they both had disabilities.  I have come to admire both of they as highly articulate individuals who have provided me wiith resources as an Executive Director of an Association for Community Living.  

Chapter 1 entitled to “My Story” considers the pros and cons of behaviourism.  I began my study in Psychologies in the 60s and as indicated by Temple I had a copy of B.F. Skinner’s Beyond Freedom and Dignity on my bookshelf. Every Friday evening while my College room mate returned home I would take out my copy and read until the early hours of the Morning. I got a 100% on my first Psychology test which I would attribute to this extra reading. I was fascinated by how simple behaviour could be explained and initially subscribed to this reductionist, functional approach to understanding behaviour. I became disillusioned by my second year and in my third year changed University to experience new worlds and new understandings of the complexity about human behaviour.  But in my disillusionment turned quite negative on behaviouralism.  Reading Temple’s approach has perhaps brought me a little bit back to the view that there are some good and valuable lessons to learn about any ideology or framework that significantly captures the world’s attention and that the problem is in adopting only one framework rather the actual framework itself.

Chapter 2 entitled “How Animals Perceive the World” covers  many interesting aspects about the perceptual processes of animals including Autistic humans. non-autistic humans and the various other species.  It is so refreshing to see an more evenly balanced approach to the difference  between autistic and non-autistic perceptual processes. Many tend to see only the deficiencies in persons with disabilities rather than differences - some of which workto the benefit of the person and some to the detriment.   In particular she considers the element of inattentional blindness.  Humans with autism tend to see details while humans without autism tend to see only what they expect to see.  The message that I take from this chapter is that humans without autism might benefit by becoming more mindful of their environment and perhaps thereby they can improve on their ability to perceive of more as well as understand more about themselves as well as the world which they share with other animals. 

Another interesting aspect of Chapter two is the discussion about the three brains  We have three brains theory proposed by Paul MacLean, “each with its own kind of intelligence, its own sense of time and space, its own memory, and its own subjectivity.”  

I would hardily recommend this book to any one working in the fields of Disabilities and Human Rights.

We shouldn’t supose that all heroes with a disabilty are Canadians.

Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Tuscumbia, Alabama.  At the age of 19 months she contracted an illness which left her deaf and blind. Anne Sullivan arrived at Keller’s house in March 1887, and immediately began to teach Helen to communicate by spelling words into her hand. Keller’s big breakthrough in communication came the next month, when she realized that the motions her teacher was making on the palm of her hand, while running cool water over her other hand, symbolized the idea of “water”.  Her story become known worldwide through the dramatic depictions of the play and film  The Miracle Worker. In 1904 Keller graduated from Radcliffe College, becoming the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Keller went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities amid numerous other causes. She was a suffragist, a pacifist, a radical socialist and a birth control supporter. In 1920 she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union. Keller suffered a series of strokes in 1961 and spent the last years of her life at her home. Keller devoted much of her later life to raising funds for the American Foundation for the Blind. She died in her sleep on June 1, 1968. 

At the Pre-Annual Meeting Conference of Community Living Ontario delegates were treated with a presentation of Alvin Law.  Alvin was one of those “Thalidomide Babies” who survived. Not only did he survive he thrived.  He thrived on love. Having thrived on love he has returned the favour to the world by telling his story and benefited countless individuals in his presentations around the globe since 1981. In 2006 he produced his firt book Alvin’s Laws of Life, a book that covers many of the stories he tells in his live presentations. His website is www.alvinlaw.com. I would highly recommend this book to all.

Heroes are characters who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self sacrifice for some greater good of all humanity.  As I wait in line for over 35 minites to buy a copy of Alvin Laws’s book Alvin’s laws of Lifelexcellence, I couldn’t help but be impressed with his respect for every person in the line.  “He’s my hero”, I heard a young girl two position ahead of me exclaim.  Up until then I never though of Alvin as a Hero but rather as an enterprising public speaker.  In fact this was about the 4th time I had heard his speech and I was entertained this time as the three previous occasions.

Law was born without arms (thalidomide and was given up for adoption. He was raised by foster parents Hilda and Jack Law.  He learned to perform daily routine activities using his feet alone, including eating, dressing and grooming himself, driving, sewing, playing sports, and playing drums, piano, and trombone. He attended regular elementary and high schools, as a result of the advocacy of foster parents. His foster parents and subsequently Alvin rejected the role of victim and faced the challenges that others in the community faced with daunting success, in addition to challenges presented by the absence of two arms.

Like Terry Fox, few Canadians have to be informed of who Rick Hansen is. Born 26 August 1957, following a car crash at the age of 15, Hansen sustained a spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the waist down.  He worked on rehabilitation, completed high school, then became the first student with a physical disability to graduate in Physical education from UBC. Hansen won a total of three gold, two silver, and one bronze medal in the Paralympics. He won 3 wheelchair marathons world championships. Hansen is most famous for his Man In Motion World Tour in which he raised 26 Million. He was hailed as a national hero.