Shadow Puppet Storyteller

Spectrum Awareness

Olympic athletes get their world stage every four years and the nations that host them get to celebrate. There are other athletic venues and efforts that are performed live, but get much less exposure. I am thinking of the Paralympics and Special Olympics specifically. Due to a new school program for my youngest, in which 10 hours of physical activity / exercise has to be logged, I have aided in this up-ramp of physical activity by taking Quinn to they gym. So far, three days of gym machine workout has given both of us sore muscles, but I am already feeling better for doing it. This morning, after thinking over my week, I came to a conclusion about working to change what all people get exposed to when it comes to physical ability and "success."

When you think about it, fictional representations of people with disabilities far outnumber the reality we get exposed to. If the world's entire diet of models in paintings, glossy magazines, sculpture, or newscasters and reporters in other media, always are aimed toward ideal physical attractiveness, we have trained ourselves to only look to one end of a spectrum. And when I say that, I mean, teaching people to accept the spectrum of physical movement too.

I want to research the expansion of live performance that shows a true cross-section, including people with disabilities.