What:

After/during our class last week I searched to find if there was anything written about the intersection of religion and intellectual disabilities. I found this blog post which also has a part two that is written by a women with autism!

http://whoneedsnormalcy.blogspot.com/2016/03/why-churches-can-be-hell-for-autistic.html

http://whoneedsnormalcy.blogspot.com/2016/03/why-churches-can-be-hell-for-autistic_27.html

The manner in which Rachel Simon wove in pictures into her presentation was fascinating. We have been talking a lot in my Black Arts Movement Class about poems that are meant to be read allowed in a group as opposed to silently by oneself, and the structure of her presentation reminded me of this dynamic in that the pictures added another dimension to her written work. It was also very cool to hear at the end that these pictures were drawn by people with and without disabilities.

“Meet Them Where They Are”:

Listening to Unlearn, Learning to Listen

What?

Three trains passed, on their way from Villanova to the parade in Philadelphia, without stopping. I eventually just took a cab to the center. By that point, I was late, but I was still there to help with clean-up. “Hope”, the woman who had told me on a previous visit that she didn’t want to go home, that the people there were rude and it was too far away, came up to me, said she had missed me, and told me excitedly that she was getting a new apartment, with different people, closer to the Center. I told her (truthfully) that I was very excited for her. Several other people came up to me, shook my hand, and either asked me my name or welcomed me back. I saw “Usmail” for the first time since I had helped him with his horse sculpture.

I was told by *Sam* (the guy I work with) that he wouldn't be in the center at the time that I usually visit. We tried finding another time, but our schedules weren't aligning. He told me to take the day off and that we would see each other next week. 

This week the kindergarten was closed on Monday because of a power outage, so I ended up going to the Haverford farm to work with A again. It was an hour and a half of transplanting kale, which was fine. Not paticularly interesting. So I decieded to join Paola and go to the kindergarten on Friday like last week, because I did not feel that I really learned or observed anything interesting on Monday.

Just as Papalia writes of the gallery as a "social space," the same could be said of a theater. This ideology was certain engaged at the performance of A Fierce Kind of Love on Friday night, both before and during the performance. As we filed into our seats, all members of the cast shuffled around, engaging with audience members on a personal, friendly level, asking if they came with other people, what brought them there, and how they got there. 

WEEK TWELVE: ACCESS

1) Talk by Brian Heffernan, public speaker and advocate

Brian's website: http://brianspeaks2u.com/

2) Read Carmen Papalia, “A New Model for Access in the Museum”

http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/3757/3280

3) See links below to the guidelines offered by two high-profile, mainstream arts & exhibition spaces. Just browse these guidelines, checking out what interests you. Smaller arts organizations are often at the cutting edge of access, but the big organizations are generally the ones that produce guidelines.