Sometimes I run across organizations with programs that strike a personal nerve just a little bit closer. The Whole Person is one such organization. I grew up around special needs people. I have two cousins who have been loving and entertaining. One works in a vocational site and the other spends his days, retrofitting and perfecting model cars.
Now, I am also the grandchild and child of grandparents and a father with visual impairments. So when I discovered The Whole Person, it thrilled me that the creativity of their clients brings about an arts education for so many. The group also collaborates with the VSA Missouri, which aims to provide an inclusive community where artists, students and audience members with disabilities have the same opportunities as those who don’t have disabilities.
In early May, for the past two years and again this year on the First Friday in May, a selected group of artists have had a traditional art showing in the Crossroads called Expressions at the Jones Gallery. The art may seem typical art gallery works with paintings, photography, textiles and jewelry, but the artists who have created the pieces are anything but typical. Last year, artist Lesley Johnston shared her beading. She is confined to a wheelchair after a stroke, but she directs an assistant on how her work should be strung to create wearable pieces of art.
Angel Goben suffers from physical disabilities including surgical dwarfism, scoliosis, and arthritis, as well as dyslexia and kidney disease. Angel has been drawing since she was two years old. Angel enjoys using art to help others and has volunteered at MOCSA, Mattie Rhodes Center, and Comprehensive Mental Health Services. She says she once was so sick she couldn’t talk, but she could draw her feelings. Roz Roush calls art a freeing experience even though painting can be hard on her as she lives with spinal stenosis. Jorge Castillo is deaf, but finds art as a constant interest and an interest others have too. He paints and finds a chance to focus on his art instead of his problems. Other artists deal with ADD, depression or bipolar illness.
Development Manager Elizabeth Wheeler at The Whole Person says the artists come from some of their own programs. The Whole Person strives to help people create an independent life. “We found in our conversations that art has a way to give people of all abilities a way to that they can express themselves. Art can express the disability or a way to process the differences. It’s therapy. Our arts programming tends to be more of an opportunity that allows for integration.”
TWP has also partnered with Theater for Young America to present a play called Bully Bot and the Gang of Geeks, written by TYA director Gene Mackey. The play, which just finished its second run, has an anti-bullying message, specifically bullying and kids with disabilities. Theater director TWP staff members Letiah Fraser, disability rights advocate, Youth Services and Sean Houlihan, assistive technology advocate, along with the actors, engage the audience to ask questions and share experiences about bullying in their schools.
“Bullying gets a lot of attention, but it’s often not brought up about the disabilities community. We invite kids to watch the play and we also offer a question and answer session. One had a disability that could be seen and one that was hard to detect. We want to continue Bully Bot and take the play around the community. Bullying is a serious issue for people of all ages,” Wheeler says.
