Who Says Blind Girls Can't Paint?

When I am not doing workforce development or family stuff, I am busy in my community. My long time community activity has been my voluntary work with my community’s arts council. This not only gives me the opportunity to give back to the community, but to organize and contribute to the cultural arts in my area.

For the second year, we just hosted our Artists with Disabilities Art Show. This art show featured artists from all over my state that had a disability.  People with any kind of disabilities are allowed to participate and this year we had a representation of a broad spectrum of disabilities.  We had people with visual disabilities, intellectual disabilities, people with physical disabilities, and people with mental illness. This was a juried art show. In the end, a team of judges, including myself decided on a first, second, and third place winner. There was a monetary award for each prize and each piece of art was judged on artistic merit and not on the artist’s disability.  Everyone that participated was honored to participate in the show.

The most amazing part of the show was the quality of art work presented. Had you seen this art, you would not have known that the artists had a disability. Regardless of what ever disability each person had, they had amazing abilities and talents to create beautiful pieces of art.  They were dedicated to their craft.

As I met each artist, I learned amazing things about the artists. One of our participants was a legally blind painter. As a child, she was told “blind girls can’t paint.” Not only did she paint, but her art work depicted a beautiful canal in Venice and used vivid colors to capture her story. There was also a potter with a visual impairment. This potter maximized the abilities she had exceled at to create a magnificent piece. Another interesting story is about a man that had a major stroke that paralyzed his entire right side of his body. Suddenly this man found himself unable to use his dominant hand. He had to learn to write and draw with his left hand side.  The work he presented was detailed and precise. The first place winner was a young woman with an intellectual disability that created a spectacular watercolor landscape of a beach.  Looking at this magnificent piece of art, you would think that it was created by a professional, not a soft-spoken, petite woman with a disability.

So what does all this have to do with workforce development?

Looking at the art, you would have never guessed that any of these artists had disabilities by looking at the quality of their work. As we go forward in our day to day world of workforce development, it is important to remind ourselves that some of the most successful people in the world have disabilities and have become successful, not because of their disabilities, but because of their abilities.  So as we work with people with disabilities to find employment, we should focus less on their disability and more on the abilities that they have.

Someone with a disability should not be forced to work at a job that does not maximize their abilities, skills, and talents. Maybe we should look more closely at the world we live in and the jobs that are available? Can a computer programmer have an intellectual disability? Can a dentist be in a wheel chair? The answer is a firm “yes” to both!  So how can you unleash the power of people with disabilities into the work force? It is important to make sure to find your local area experts in this area and partner with them.  There are also resources online. The federal government has a website called Disability.gov where you can find information on programs and resources for people with disabilities? The site can be accessed at https://www.disability.gov/. Does one of your job seekers need an accommodation from an employer to perform a job? Check out the Job Accommodations Network (JAN) website at https://askjan.org/.  As workforce development grows and changes, it is time to leave behind the “can’t” and embrace the “can” in all our people with disabilities and without.  

 

For more information on the Artists with Disabilities Art Show and to see the amazing pictures, visit the Facebook page of the Southington Arts Council, Inc., located in Southington, CT, at https://www.facebook.com/SouthingtonArtsCouncil.   Thank you for reading. I hope everyone is maximizing their abilities. I can be reached at kcirincione@gmail.com. Feel free to leave questions and comments below or send me an email. ~ Karen Cirincione