There's no coincidence that "The Journey with Grace" is one-third autism/disAbility and one-third arts. Few people who know me at this point in my life are aware that I graduated from an arts high school. They are unaware because I left a lifetime of making visual art behind when I graduated from the Greenville Fine Arts Center in Greenville, S.C. The reasons why--on the cusp of 50--I'm finally reclaiming that part of my spirit, involves inner and familial turmoil that's the subject of a future post somewhere in the works.
Nearly 20 precious years after denying a key part my artist self, Grace Walker Goad was born. And three years later, my only child would be diagnosed with autism. Her father and I went through the autism drill: enrolling and taxi-ing her to a myriad of rigorous therapies. But, after a year, I rebelled. I didn't drop out of the necessary basics, I added back in things that I believe should be a part of childhood: music, visual art making and dance. Things that all of my daughter's typically developing peers were experiencing through enrichment classes and all the things that my daughter and her special needs peers were missing out in the dogged rush to fill the gaping holes of neuro-typical development.
What we found was that not only does the apple not fall too far from the tree in terms of autistic genes, it does likewise in artistic genes. And even better. Many people on the autism and other disAbility spectrums excel in the arts--their disAbility may enhance their artistic gifts. Scientists are theorizing why this is so. (Here's a recent interview with NPR's Studio 360 about this phenomenon.)
Grace's newly designed website, www.GraceGoad.com, was crafted a year ago, launched this fall, and still remains unfinished as I've been consumed with book details. And, very sadly, we once again lost our private art teacher and, as has happened too many times in the past, we've gone an entire year without a replacement. The happy "but" in all this is that she's attended the city's best public high school arts program* and there, had a teacher that cared, was unafraid of her disAbility and invested in her talent (unlike 12 of the last 13 years in public school art). Though Grace has not had one-on-one art facilitation--where her creative genius is given the quiet, un-distracted space to flourish--she has made art daily in high school.
She's pictured, at top, at the school's annual arts festival with her work that placed first in her class. I returned home from the festival last night with a little less guilt and sadness over going a year without a private teacher. Even with the hyper-distraction of a noisy classroom, Grace has had a chance to flex, shine and grow. That is my wish for all students with disAbilities who hold too-often hidden, ignored and under-appreciated gifts in the arts. May we let them paint, sing, dance and shine!
*Grace attends one of several general-education high schools in our city. She does not attend the arts magnet our district offer. Her educational team decided the magnet program would not offer her the additional specific lifeskills that she needed in addition to art programming.
This weekend is our local book tour's final countdown with several very special events listed here. Yesterday, we appeared on Channel 5's "Talk of the Town" about our book. The interview is here.
Thanks to a loyal subscribed reader, I was alerted to the fact that the NPR link, in the third graph did not click through. I've remedied the problem and here it is: http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2010/03/
Posted by: Leisa A. Hammett | April 26, 2010 at 10:04 AM