Abilities with Disabilities

I have said before that I'm lucky... so I won't be boring you about that anymore. I can go ahead and express my feelings about the wonderful day I had yesterday, which was my birthday, and all the beautiful gifts I received, the great family lunch at the beach ending with a great big 7 layer chocolate cake... but... like I said, I won't bore you with all that. I'd like to express my feelings on something that I would like to share with you...

A few years ago, we went on a family vacation to Cabo San Lucas. We were laying out by the pool and my sister told me that if I put some lemon on the freckles on my nose, they'd go away. (If you haven't noticed, I have freckles on my nose and I have always wanted to get rid of them, somehow, obviously...) So, I believed her and did as she said... Well, the next morning I woke up looking like I had been in a boxing match. My eyes were swollen and somewhat slanted. I was horrified at myself and wouldn't go outside without sunglasses. I also remember it being my birthday that day too. I was so depressed over my physical deformity, I started crying and throwing tantrums. I even kept my glasses on in the plane on the way back home. After a few days, it was better and my face slowly went back to normal.

The reason why I'm sharing this story with you now is because I had a slight deformity for a few days and I couldn't live with myself. I realized that not everybody is built to handle emotional, physical, or mental disabilities. Which brings me to my next point... Modest Fly will be showing the work of a few great artists who are dealing with emotional, mental, and physical disabilities. The work of the students at Tierra Del Sol will be showing at Modest Fly for the month of September and I am very excited about this opportunity. I have so much admiration for these students and the absolute talent that they have. They're work is amazing, but don't take my word for it, come by and take a look at their great abilities, not disabilities. The show is titled "Without Restrictions" and it will be opening on September 2nd, 2011 from 7-10pm. It will be up at the gallery until September 30th, 2011.

Here is a little bit about Tierra Del Sol:

"Tierra del Sol Foundation began 40 years ago in Sunland, California and has grown into a recognized leader in developing innovative, accredited services enabling adults with developmental disabilities to realize their greatest human potential. Tierra del Sol helps more than 500 people across Los Angeles County overcome cognitive, physical, emotional or behavioral challenges resulting from developmental disability. Tierra offers a tremendous variety of educational opportunities for people to discover their own unique talents and abilities to contribute to their community and their family. Most importantly, we believe our community is stronger when all of its members are valued and appreciated. Through Tierra, people are supported to go to community college, to give valuable volunteer service, to create art and to build for themselves the lives that they want."

Steve Miller, Executive Director

http://tierradelsol.org/