-Writing About Our Generation
Earlier this month I was invited to show some of my videos at a Disability Arts Festival hosted by the University of Alabama’s Arts in Medicine program in Birmingham. While there I witnessed a remarkable performance, From Where I Sit, which was the culmination of a three-year cross-country program that began with writers gathering monthly online to journal about their realities of living with spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and transverse myelitis.
Suzanne Costello tailored their words into a script, and Anita Hollander composed songs. Participating artists flew in from all over the country and worked with Costello to create a show in two weeks of intensive rehearsal in Birmingham. Remarkably, many of them had never performed before.
As someone who became paraplegic 29 years ago because of complications from spinal surgery, I found the theatrical experience resonant and affirming. No didactics, but plenty to learn from their lived experiences—as more and more baby boomers leave the world of the temporarily abled.
Here’s a link to a video of the live performance: