The art of seeing: how to look at disability | Margaret Keller | TEDxBerkshires
-
0:13 - 0:16A memory from my childhood
in the 1970s: -
0:17 - 0:20being at the grocery store
with my older sister -
0:20 - 0:25and seeing someone in a wheelchair,
whose head was bent to the side. -
0:26 - 0:29Now, as a kid, I tended
to sort people into categories: -
0:29 - 0:32adult or child, boy or girl.
-
0:33 - 0:36And this was someone
I had trouble sorting. -
0:36 - 0:38I couldn't tell how old they were,
-
0:38 - 0:41I couldn't tell
if they were looking at me, -
0:41 - 0:44I couldn't really tell if they could see.
-
0:45 - 0:50And I remember tugging on
my sister's sleeve to ask her a question -
0:50 - 0:55and her nudging me with her elbow
and whispering, "Don't stare!" -
0:57 - 0:59"Don't stare."
-
0:59 - 1:03To the extent that I thought
about disability as a child, -
1:03 - 1:06the message I took away was "Don't look."
-
1:07 - 1:09And in the 1970s,
-
1:09 - 1:12"look away" might have been
the dominant ethos of our culture -
1:12 - 1:15when it came to disability.
-
1:15 - 1:19This was an era before the passage
of historic legislation, -
1:19 - 1:22ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act,
-
1:22 - 1:26before integrated classrooms
and the rise of mainstreaming, -
1:26 - 1:31a period when it wasn't uncommon
for people with developmental disabilities -
1:31 - 1:33to be sent to live
away from their families -
1:33 - 1:35in institutional settings.
-
1:36 - 1:38Our culture at this point
-
1:38 - 1:41worked pretty hard
to make disability invisible. -
1:43 - 1:46One exception
was the Jerry Lewis Telethon. -
1:46 - 1:49And you probably remember Jerry's kids.
-
1:50 - 1:54The telethon explicitly asked us to look.
-
1:55 - 1:59In 1976, the Muscular Dystrophy
Association Telethon -
1:59 - 2:05was broadcast on 213 stations
for 21.5 hours, -
2:05 - 2:08with musical skits and performances
-
2:08 - 2:13punctuated by Lewis' impassioned pleas
on behalf of his kids - -
2:13 - 2:18often not kids at all,
but adults with disabilities -
2:18 - 2:21who were relegated
to the land of eternal childhood. -
2:21 - 2:25If we're considering the place
of disability in American culture -
2:25 - 2:27during my formative years,
-
2:27 - 2:30we might say we have a bit of a paradox
-
2:30 - 2:33centered on how to look.
-
2:35 - 2:39On the one hand, our culture
is telling us, "Don't look!" -
2:39 - 2:42Disability is cast as an illness
-
2:42 - 2:46that we, the television viewers,
the onlookers, are meant to cure. -
2:47 - 2:50Fast-forward till now, 30-odd years later.
-
2:50 - 2:53So much has changed.
-
2:53 - 2:57We've seen athletes with disabilities
compete in the Paralympics, -
2:57 - 2:59the Olympics, the Special Olympics.
-
2:59 - 3:03The disability rights movement
has made enormous strides. -
3:03 - 3:08There's a growing number of actors
with disabilities on stage and screen. -
3:08 - 3:11Our children go to integrated schools.
-
3:12 - 3:14Integration is widely accepted,
-
3:14 - 3:18if not as the norm then as a desired goal.
-
3:19 - 3:21But if we're being honest with ourselves,
-
3:21 - 3:25we have to acknowledge
that we still have a long way to go, -
3:26 - 3:30particularly when it comes
to developmental disabilities, perhaps. -
3:30 - 3:36We still live in a culture where people
use the R-word as a casual epithet, -
3:37 - 3:39where there's an online movement
-
3:39 - 3:42dedicated to helping us
spread the word to end the word. -
3:43 - 3:46For many of us, if we're being honest,
-
3:46 - 3:49there's still a degree
of discomfort about disability. -
3:50 - 3:53Maybe we're not sure
how to read someone with a disability. -
3:54 - 3:56Maybe we're not sure what to say,
-
3:56 - 3:59and we're afraid
we'll say the wrong thing. -
4:00 - 4:04Maybe we're not sure how to communicate
with someone who might be nonverbal, -
4:04 - 4:06or whose speech might be different,
-
4:06 - 4:10or who we perceive
in some way as different. -
4:11 - 4:13To a large extent,
-
4:13 - 4:19we've inherited this paradox
of how to look at disability. -
4:20 - 4:24So how do we find our way out of this box?
-
4:24 - 4:27How do we create new ways of seeing,
-
4:27 - 4:32ways that allow us to break out
of the culture of invisibility, -
4:32 - 4:35ways that allow us
to see the whole person -
4:35 - 4:38not as an object of sympathy or a child
-
4:38 - 4:41but as a multi-faceted human being?
-
4:43 - 4:45Implicit in this question
-
4:45 - 4:48is an acknowledgment
of the limits of sympathy. -
4:49 - 4:52Sympathy has a kind of built-in disparity.
-
4:52 - 4:55It presupposes an unequal equation,
-
4:55 - 4:59where one person empowered,
seemingly whole, -
4:59 - 5:05bestows something on another
less empowered, less whole. -
5:06 - 5:08Sympathy may have its place,
-
5:08 - 5:11but it's no basis
for a long-term relationship. -
5:11 - 5:15It's a one-way arrow,
not a two-way street. -
5:16 - 5:20How do we move beyond
the limits of sympathy? -
5:21 - 5:22How do we see differently?
-
5:25 - 5:27Here's one powerful answer:
-
5:28 - 5:29art.
-
5:30 - 5:32I want to ask you right now
-
5:32 - 5:37to think about a powerful experience
that you've had in the arts, -
5:38 - 5:41a moment where something moved you -
-
5:41 - 5:45a painting, a play,
a piece of music, a work of dance. -
5:45 - 5:48I want you to try to remember that moment,
-
5:48 - 5:52to hold it in your mind
and unpack what was happening inside you. -
5:54 - 5:58So a recent moment for me,
just a couple of weeks ago, in fact, -
5:58 - 6:00was a trip to the new Whitney Museum
-
6:00 - 6:01in New York.
-
6:02 - 6:04I was walking through the galleries
-
6:04 - 6:07and stumbled upon "The Seasons" -
-
6:07 - 6:08a painting by Lee Krasner
-
6:08 - 6:12made after the death
of her husband, Jackson Pollock. -
6:12 - 6:18It's a massive work
covering a really large wall, -
6:19 - 6:22full of sweeping brushstrokes
-
6:22 - 6:27with bright pinky reds
and deep vegetal greens. -
6:28 - 6:33You can just imagine the artist's arms
reaching high and wide -
6:33 - 6:39to circle the canvas
and create these round, ripe shapes. -
6:40 - 6:44After Pollock's death, Krasner wondered
whether she'd ever paint again, -
6:44 - 6:47and this painting was her answer.
-
6:49 - 6:51I found myself transfixed.
-
6:51 - 6:53I don't know if you've had that experience
-
6:53 - 6:55where you're walking through a museum,
-
6:55 - 6:59you're pondering, nodding,
making your museum face, -
6:59 - 7:04and then something
out of the blue just floors you. -
7:05 - 7:07That was my experience.
-
7:07 - 7:11The painting just stopped me in my tracks.
-
7:11 - 7:15I wanted to linger, to take it in,
-
7:16 - 7:18to have a few moments to commune with it
-
7:18 - 7:21and respond to what it was offering.
-
7:22 - 7:26So, in a way, the painting
provoked a kind of revelation. -
7:27 - 7:29There are two senses
to that word "revelation," -
7:29 - 7:31and I mean them both here:
-
7:31 - 7:35the sense that something
is being revealed to us -
7:36 - 7:38and also that in that revealing,
-
7:38 - 7:41something is awakened within us.
-
7:43 - 7:47We're alive and we're energized
in that awakening. -
7:50 - 7:54So how does all of this
relate to disability and seeing? -
7:55 - 7:56Five years ago,
-
7:56 - 7:59I had my first experience
as an audience member -
7:59 - 8:03at a performance showcasing
artists with disabilities. -
8:03 - 8:07The dancers, actors, jugglers,
singers I saw on stage -
8:07 - 8:10all had developmental disabilities.
-
8:12 - 8:17I remember watching a group of dancers
in Dawn Lane's Moving Company -
8:17 - 8:19in a piece called "Resilience."
-
8:20 - 8:22It was an elegant, moving performance
-
8:22 - 8:24where the dancers
-
8:24 - 8:27creatively riffed on the idea
of children playing on a playground. -
8:28 - 8:32The overall theme of the show
was "Sticks and Stones." -
8:32 - 8:36And in their movements,
the dancers acted out playground taunts. -
8:38 - 8:40At the end of the piece,
-
8:40 - 8:46a dancer with Down syndrome
began swinging on a simple wooden swing -
8:46 - 8:48that had been installed
as part of the set. -
8:48 - 8:51Her movements were graceful,
-
8:51 - 8:53and they were beautiful.
-
8:53 - 8:57But there was also something
almost defiant -
8:57 - 9:00in the way that she soared overhead.
-
9:01 - 9:03It was like watching a dare,
-
9:04 - 9:06and it was riveting.
-
9:08 - 9:12I sat in the audience, suddenly joyful.
-
9:12 - 9:14And I wasn't the only one.
-
9:14 - 9:17I could see and feel others
right there with me. -
9:18 - 9:21It was a little like
a floodgate had burst. -
9:21 - 9:24There was almost
a sense of relief in the air. -
9:25 - 9:28The show was funny, and it was moving,
-
9:28 - 9:30and it was clever,
-
9:30 - 9:33but why was it so profoundly joyous?
-
9:33 - 9:38What was this wave that we,
the audience, were all riding? -
9:40 - 9:44Before that night, I hadn't thought
that much about disability. -
9:44 - 9:48And although I'd spent my career
in the nonprofit arts and humanities, -
9:48 - 9:50I hadn't thought that much
-
9:50 - 9:54about the relationship
between art and disability. -
9:55 - 9:58All I knew, sitting there,
-
9:58 - 10:02was that I wanted to bring
my children back the next day -
10:02 - 10:05so they could have this experience.
-
10:07 - 10:09I knew somehow that this single event,
-
10:09 - 10:12this night that I had watched,
-
10:12 - 10:17encapsulated so much of what
I wanted to teach them about life, -
10:17 - 10:22the deep and important stuff
that we don't always know how to convey -
10:22 - 10:26but that we want so much
to pass on to our kids, -
10:26 - 10:29about following our passions
-
10:29 - 10:32and bearing witness
to what's deep inside us, -
10:32 - 10:34about humanity even,
-
10:34 - 10:37what connects us, what binds us together.
-
10:37 - 10:43And I realized that what I was watching
perfectly captured the power of the arts. -
10:43 - 10:48Not because the performers
were all experts or professional artists. -
10:48 - 10:49They weren't.
-
10:49 - 10:50They were learning,
-
10:50 - 10:54carrying us along with them.
-
10:54 - 10:57But still the experience of watching them
-
10:57 - 11:00revealed for me, reminded me
-
11:00 - 11:04what art at its core does for us.
-
11:04 - 11:08Art brings us out of ourselves.
-
11:08 - 11:12When we're moved or engaged
or even provoked -
11:12 - 11:15by a novel or a play or a painting
-
11:15 - 11:18or a work of dance or music,
-
11:18 - 11:22we are led into an encounter
with another perspective. -
11:22 - 11:25So art, in this sense,
is always about a kind of epiphany. -
11:25 - 11:28It's a moment of revelation
-
11:28 - 11:33that opens up a new landscape
and a new set of ideas. -
11:33 - 11:36Art that's connected to disability, then,
-
11:37 - 11:40can be explosively powerful
-
11:40 - 11:44for those of us whose lives
have been spent outside that world. -
11:45 - 11:49It suddenly gives us
a point of connection, -
11:49 - 11:52access to a whole new way of seeing.
-
11:53 - 11:57And this experience can break through
the paradox of looking -
11:57 - 11:59that I was describing earlier.
-
12:00 - 12:02Many of us in the audience that night
-
12:02 - 12:05had inherited the legacy
of one-way seeing, -
12:05 - 12:07whether we knew it or not.
-
12:08 - 12:12Watching art created by people
with developmental disabilities -
12:12 - 12:14shattered this history.
-
12:14 - 12:19The joy that I could feel in the audience
was a kind of release, -
12:19 - 12:23like the sound of a glass cage breaking.
-
12:25 - 12:26Watching the performance,
-
12:26 - 12:31we saw the talents
and the abilities of the performers. -
12:31 - 12:34We had a glimpse of their perspective.
-
12:34 - 12:38We swung on the swing
with the dancer with Down syndrome -
12:38 - 12:41and felt the breeze in our face.
-
12:42 - 12:45The arrow was now two ways.
-
12:45 - 12:48Someone was looking back.
-
12:48 - 12:50My experience in the theater that night
-
12:50 - 12:54led me a few years later to my new career
-
12:54 - 12:56as executive director
of the same organization, -
12:56 - 12:59Community Access to the Arts,
-
12:59 - 13:04a nonprofit that nurtures and celebrates
the creativity of people with disabilities -
13:04 - 13:07through the arts, visual and performing.
-
13:08 - 13:12Founded 23 years ago
by dance therapist Sandy Newman, -
13:12 - 13:16CATA has been at the cutting edge
of a growing movement -
13:16 - 13:19in what is sometimes called
"disability art." -
13:20 - 13:22I'm still new to this field
-
13:22 - 13:26and new, too, to the ways
of seeing that I've described. -
13:27 - 13:30But you don't have to be propelled
into a career change -
13:30 - 13:32to have an experience like that
-
13:32 - 13:33change you.
-
13:34 - 13:40Art pushes us to move
beyond charity, beyond sympathy -
13:40 - 13:42to something bigger,
-
13:42 - 13:44something reciprocal.
-
13:45 - 13:49As an audience member,
you and the performers you watch -
13:49 - 13:53are mutually enlarged
by your participation in that moment. -
13:54 - 13:58And this works just as well
in the visual arts. -
13:59 - 14:02These are self-portraits
from a CATA workshop -
14:02 - 14:05led by faculty artist Janice Shields.
-
14:06 - 14:08They reflect many different
ability levels, -
14:08 - 14:12from mark-making to a talent
for mixing watercolor -
14:12 - 14:14to detailed portraiture.
-
14:14 - 14:20But they all capture what happens
when we look through art. -
14:22 - 14:26On one half of the page,
we see a photograph of a CATA artist. -
14:26 - 14:30On the other, we see
that artist's self-portrait. -
14:30 - 14:37I love that we literally need
the artist's perspective -
14:37 - 14:39to create a complete image,
-
14:39 - 14:41a whole face.
-
14:42 - 14:47And that completed image
challenges us as viewers -
14:47 - 14:49to synthesize these two parts:
-
14:49 - 14:51what we see initially
-
14:51 - 14:54and what the artist
offers us of him or herself. -
14:54 - 14:56We are asked by these works
-
14:56 - 15:01to stitch together
the physical exterior of the artist -
15:01 - 15:04with the imagination that lies within.
-
15:05 - 15:07The artists present us here with a gift,
-
15:08 - 15:11an opportunity to see in a way
-
15:11 - 15:16that is authentic, whole,
and grounded in connection. -
15:17 - 15:22This new way of seeing
lets us see ourselves in a new light too. -
15:22 - 15:25For if the old dynamic
of an "us" and a "them" -
15:25 - 15:28was based on a limited sense of "them,"
-
15:28 - 15:32it was also based
on a limited sense of "us." -
15:33 - 15:36When we let the power of art move us,
-
15:36 - 15:41we make space for revelation, for wonder.
-
15:42 - 15:46And the force of that revelation can upend
-
15:46 - 15:49even the most deeply held prejudices,
-
15:49 - 15:52even those we didn't know we harbored.
-
15:53 - 15:57We discard our old lenses
-
15:57 - 16:01and see with fresh eyes.
-
16:03 - 16:07We see that we are all "us."
-
16:08 - 16:13These works of art were made by artists
with disabilities in our community. -
16:15 - 16:17Go and stare!
- Title:
- The art of seeing: how to look at disability | Margaret Keller | TEDxBerkshires
- Description:
-
Being told "Don’t stare!" might be the first memory some of us have of encountering a person with a disability. And in fact, when it comes to disability, our culture has collectively tended to avert its gaze. How do we, as individuals and as a culture, turn around a history where the polite thing was not to look? How do we learn to see the richness and complexity of an individual: a person who prefers cats or maybe dogs, who likes or doesn’t like chocolate, who is so unique as to defy categorization. How do we look, really look, at disability?
Margaret Keller is executive director of Community Access to the Arts (CATA), a nonprofit organization that nurtures and celebrates the creativity of 600 people with disabilities across Berkshire County. After completing her doctoral coursework at the University of Chicago, she was lured away from the ivory tower by the nonprofit world, where she discovered her passion for bringing the arts and humanities to wider audiences. As associate director of the Chicago Humanities Festival, Margaret led program development for an annual city-wide celebration of art and ideas, working with major thinkers, artists, and cultural organizations.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 16:34
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Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for The art of seeing: how to look at disability | Margaret Keller | TEDxBerkshires | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for The art of seeing: how to look at disability | Margaret Keller | TEDxBerkshires | ||
Theresa Ranft edited English subtitles for The art of seeing: how to look at disability | Margaret Keller | TEDxBerkshires |