Rosca 1 Disabilities Reveal Talents Society calls them special; science and medicine - disabled, and yet some

of the most important and talented figures in the history of all time were those who were special. It seems that their disability actually encouraged and opened a new door of exploration for them, for they changed the world. Instead of focusing on their disabilities, they focused on their abilities. Einstein, Van Gogh, Hawking, Chandran, Beethoven, Brown, Keller, Alvarez, Roosevelt, Milton, Renoir, Monet, Frida Kahlo and so many more introduced a new world for the so called normal people. Christy Brown, Albert Schmiege and John Bramblitt three individuals that share the same passion for painting and all three despite their disability instead of complaining of their misfortune and fall into isolation and depression managed to fight for their dream of creating art and accomplished extraordinary masterpieces. Christy Brown was born in the summer of 1932, though he had a difficult birth, as he writes in My Left Foot, Mine was a difficult birth. Both mother and son almost died (Brown 94), nobody had the knowledge that Christy was very ill and still, about to be a future miracle child, until, at the age of four, his mother realized that Christys head had a habit of falling backwards whenever she tried to feed him and on some other occasions. His mother became very worried and took Christy to a lot of doctors, all of whom ended up with the same conclusion that he was a hopeless case, as Christy writes, Almost every doctor who saw and examined me labeled me a very interesting but also a hopeless case. Many told mother that I was mentally defective and would remain so (Brown 95). His mother though refused to believe so, and treated Christy the same as her other children. She believed that Christys disorder was solely his body not the mind. I believe

Rosca 2 it was a maternal instinct, for she always was reading to him, showing pictures and probably she read on his eyes the feedback that others did not understood, she knew in her heart that he did understood her and all of the things that were happening around him. I believe his mothers love helped him a lot, the fact that she treated him equally as his brothers and sisters, perhaps he wanted to thank her and prove that he is worth all the care he was provided with and one day the miracle happened. Brown writes, Then, suddenly, it happened! In a moment everything was changed, my future life molded into a definite shape, my mothers faith in me rewarded, and her secret fear changed into open triumph (97). A great support and encouragement for him also was Katrina Delahunt, a social worker, who after learning about Christys story visited him all the time and used to bring him books and art materials. When he reached out for the chalk his sister was using and failed at his first attempt to write, his mother said, Ill show you what to do with it, Chris, copy that Copy it Christy (98). After few more attempts he drew the letter A, Christy writes, I had done it! It had started the thing that was to give me my mind its chance of expressing itself. True, I couldnt speak with my lips. But now I would speak through something more lasting than spoken words written words (99). Christy taught himself to write and draw with his left leg, having for encouragement his family and the desire to communicate and express himself and he found his way through his left foot, becoming in a short time a well-know writer and artist. Albert Schmiege was not always an artist, though art has always been his passion, as he says in his story for wiscnews.com, I had worked in several different jobs, none of which [I] was passionate about (Boehm 1). After he got diagnosed with macular degeneration in 1922 and lost his central sight he got very angry but also a new creative

Rosca 3 window opened for him as he started painting, Schmiege says in his story for nbc15.com, I had a lot of anger and frustration without being able to see things the way I used to, but what you loose youre giving back in other ways (Artist 1). Though he barely can see the art he creates, "I'm looking to the left to see what I'm doing down to the right (Search 1), and uses paper plates as pallets to create the color and writes on the plate the name of the color in order not to confuse them because black, blue and red looks all the same for him. His work was on display in a lot of different states and admired by people. It was very hard for him at beginning, he never thought he would be able to paint, he was not really good when he had the sight, but after he lost it, he thought that there was no way he could paint. With the support of his friends and family and especially his second wife Lori who is blind from birth, he start painting, also his wife encouraged him to display his work, Albert says, for nbc15.com (youtube.com), With her encouragement two years later I had my first show (Artist), his wife Lori added, What he was telling me was since he lost his sight he cant do that anymore and I said oh ye s you can (Artist). In the same video Albert says, Losing your eyes sight is like experiencing someone very close to you dying, its a grieving process and, and you have to learn t o do everything all over again (Artist), and he did learned all over again, and proved that being disabled also has its positive side, for now he is able to do what he really is passionate about: create art. I have learned from his story that being disable makes you weak at the beginning and you feel like you have lost everything, but the same disability after a while makes you stronger, you just have to choose to be stronger. I very much liked how Albert ended his story, Its a disability but there is two parts that work the dis which you can focus on or the ability, I am not going to let my eyesight to stop me

Rosca 4 from developing my god giving gift, it took me 43 years to find it and I want to continue to paint till the day I die (Artist). Epilepsy took away his vision and the same disability blessed him with a new gift. In 2001 after a series of severe seizures John Bramblitt lost his vision. Art always was a part of his life and as Albert he discovered his gift after he lost his sight. Menick wrote for magazine.creativecow.net, There's a lot of back story to Bramblitt, a painter who'd never painted before he became blind and now shows and sells his paintings, speaks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has published two books on painting and how he sees the world. John Bramblitt gave me my one, and so far only, experience of sitting in a room with a genius (1). I looked at his art and watched some videos and I really got impressed, I am also interested in art and painting and my painting does not look even close as good as the blind artist Johns. After he lost his sight he lost himself and went crazy, a student whos life ended in one day. Before John lost his sight he never painted, but he used to draw all the time and after he lost his sight, for about a year he did not do anything, he did not draw, or paint, he fell into a depression and felt like he was not needed anymore, John says in a video on youtube.com: Blind painter Line of Sight My Generation, First year that I lost my eye sight I didnt do any art, it didnt even occur to me to try to draw, and I draw all my life. I was in the deepest darkest hole (Generation). While watching the video I fell like he wanted to prove to everybody that he is still worth it and it was either wake up and do something either keep on living in a dark whole. To accomplish his dream he had to use a paint that draws really fast, he makes lines on canvas with the paint and then he discovered a new technique: the touching and the feeling, and then draw inside those lines, always touching the canvas.

Rosca 5 Step by step he learned how to mix the colors with his hands, feeling the texture: I paint the same way really any artist does, the only difference is that everything that most artist use their eyes for I have to use my sense of touch for, so I replace my eyes with my hands (Generation). He got married and has a son, who is his biggest encouragement, his wife and son believe in John and in his abilities and John proved that his disability is his new ability. He learned to live life and do al the things all over again, saying that painting helps him to: stay in the moment (Generation). Writing this report made me sad and proud at the same time for the people with disabilities, for these disabilities opened something new for them. They loose some senses and discover some stronger ones. In those moments you really find out whom your true friends are, who loves you and genuinely care about you. To accomplish their dreams they have to learn everything all over again followed by frustration and anger they have to put more effort in the things they do and a lot of passion. And with love and support and desire they succeed to accomplish more in life that the so-called normal people do. Some of the really good movies I watched before, including My Left Foot made me sad and cry, and one time my roommate asked me why, I replied that it is very sad, that I feel badly for disabled people, for my uncle and a nephew are disabled and it just breaks my heart to look at them and see them trying to do or say some things and not being able to express themselves, and he replayed that yes, it is sad, but those people are genuinely happier than us and they have more desire to go forward and accomplish their dream. Researching and watching a lot of videos with disabilities, I really realized that indeed it is true, it is heart-breaking, but they did find that strength in them to fight their disability and chase their dream and reach it comparing with a lot of lost normal people

Rosca 6 that all their life do not manage to accomplish the things that special people do. Discriminatory practices continue to deny persons with disabilities, as well as workers who become disabled, access to work, says a statistical study, and I believe this could be a reason why disabled people literally put their heart in what they do and succeed, - they want to prove the world and themselves that they still are part of this society and able to do things. An estimated 386 million of the worlds working-age people have some kind of disabilities, says the International Labor Organization and this does not include the non-workers, and all these millions managed to stay alive and fight for their place under the sun and I believe the only feeling that society should have for them is: pride and respect.

Rosca 7 Works Cited Brown, Christy. The Letter A. One World, Many Cultures. Stuart and Terry Hirschberg. New York: Pearson-Longman, 2012. 94-99. Print. Boehm, Gail. Blind Mauston Artist Shares his Vision in International Art Show. Wiscnews.com. Juneau County Star Times, 26 Feb. 2011. Web. 17 February 2013. Blind Artist. YouTube. Nbc15.com, 31 August 2011. Web. 17 February 2013. Blind Painter Line of Sight My Generation. YouTube. YouTube, 29 June 2013. Web. 18 February 2013. In Search of Albert Schmiege. News8000. News8000, 30 July 2010. Web. 17 February 2013. Menick, Stephen. Line of Sight: John Brambltts Story. Magazine.Creativecow.net. Magazine.Creativecow, 2012. Web. 18 February 2013.