The Arts & Disabilities

Too often, people with disabilities are relegated to being passive when it comes to the arts.

A mother with a child with cerebral palsy wrote the New York City Ballet and asked if they ever did workshops for kids with disabilities. They haven't. But they contacted me and asked me if I would help them do that. And we did.

And the outcome was just amazing. Because of the success with children, we've started a program for young adults as well.

It's really important that you give people with cerebral palsy of all ages, a little extra time to be able to fully experience whatever activity and art that they're doing, whether it's listening to music, whether it's dancing, whether it's trying to draw something. Because only then do we give them the opportunity to fully express themselves and to grow in their own life.

Communicate with some of the people in your area, or your community, who do the arts, because this may not be something they've ever thought of before. But you'd be surprised how open they'll be to it.

"It's really important that you give people with cerebral palsy a little extra time to be able to fully experience whatever activity and art that they're doing."