The art of living after brain trauma:

Seattle Art Center celebrates ‘differabilities’

By
Mike Dillon

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October 19, 1999

North Central Outlook Serving Freemont, Green Lake, Greenwood and Wallingford since 1922, WA

Wednesday, October 20, 1999

Cliches about the strength of human spirit are plentiful enough, but Alan Jodock-King and his wife Sharon all give the old saying fresh and undeniable meaning.

The Wallingford couple suffers from cerebral palsy from damage to the brain at birth. The Kings live their days in wheelchairs. Lack full control over their muscles, and cannot speak. And yet, through computers, they laboriously punch out letters to make words and finally sentences that are articulated in a human voice. And the kings are artists. They will be appearing at the Center House at the Seattle center October 22 And October 23 as part of the “possABILITIES 1999 Arts Exhibition.”

“We’re all interconnected.” We want to stretch people’s ideas of disabilities,” said festival organizer Bittin Foster Duggan. An artist herself, Duggan suffered brain trauma in a car accident in 1989 while an undergraduate at the University of Colorado, Duggan a resident of “Wallimont” - not quite Fremont, not quite Wallinford- is energetic, humorous and passionate about breaking down barriers between the disabled and the “normal” world. She found her own accident, from which she recovered after a five days coma, a “transformative experience.”

‘We’re not that different from each other.’ Sharon Jodock-King

“On one level I died, “She said. Since then, “there is a space in me grounded in spirit, in connectedness.”

The two day show at the Center House will include three men with various brain or spinal cord injuries who will relate, under the title “Think – First,” Their cautionary tales about risk taking.

Also on the on the slate: poetry readings and story telling, dances skits, music, and a performance art group working on a painting.

Duggan listed the various types of brain trauma that can happen to people: Alzheimer’s disease, Cerebral palsy, stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, learning and developmental disabilities, and people affected by domestic violence incidents.

If these are not things most people would rather not think about, Duggan is on a mission: she wants people to stop and see the humanity, talents and spirit of victims of brain injury. In fact Duggan would take issue with the word ‘victim,” as she does with the word “disability,” a word she feels creates an unhealthy distance from the word “ability.” “Diffability” is the word Duggan prefers.

“We’re not that different from each other," she said.

At home with the Kings

Alan and Sharon Jodock- King live a few blocks east of Greenlake, where they are assisted by a caregiver. Their artwork lines the walls. A manuscript of a children’s book , a story about a cat written by Alan, lies next to the sofa. Sharon’s landscape paintings are stacked on the floor, executed with oils. She uses a single thumb to type out words and sentences on a keyboard attached to the wheelchair. Alan uses a foot pedal to summon his computer generated words and sentences. If communication is labored, an uninitiated visitor soon learns to wait while the Kings work with the mechanics of getting their computer generated voices to articulate. The back and forth of everyday conversation take place- it merely takes on a different rhythm. “I’ve got plenty to communicate to those who take the time and patience to listen to me, “Alan wrote in an eight page autobiographical manuscript typed by Sharon.

Alan was born in 1957, Sharon in 1940. They were married in 1983. Sharon been heavily institutionalized until she was able to get through to others her mind was perfectly fine. “I am doing a dance, “Sharon said of her of her Center House appearance. “I am reading a poem,” Alan said. “He is doing a hell of a lot,” Sharon echoed. “I am reading a poem and acting and singing,” Alan agreed.

Asked what is the message of the possibilities exhibition, Sharon replied: “That we can do a good performance like anybody else. And maybe educate some who do not know anything about people with disabilities.”

“To teach people to keep their eyes open,” Alan added. “I want people to seewe are real people, and see with their eyes open.”

“People think because we are in wheelchairs that our minds don’t work, “Sharon said

“Yesterday I started help teaching at Shoreline Community College on relaxation.” Later, she added: “I have done lots in my lifetime and I’m not done yet.” On Nov. 3 Sharon will fly to Washington D.C. to participate in a conference focused on the needs of disabled children. “I’m on a national boards for kids with disabilities, out of the University of Washington,’ she said.

“I can say she’s busy a lot,” Alan echoed.

Center House exhibition aims to teach

Duggan, after her car accident, spent time traveling around the country facilitating workshops and art exhibits. She’s currently working on her Masters of Art degree in whole systems design at Antioch University and works as a Director of New Adult Programs for Very Special Arts Washington, headquartered in Center House. That organization is the local affiliate of the national organization founded more than twenty years ago by Jean Kennedy Smith to encourage art among the disabled.

‘I want people to see we are real people, and see with their eyes open.’ Sharon Jodock- King

The Center House exhibit is the result of a collaboration between the Brain Injury Association of Washington, Very Special Arts Washington, the Seattle Center, and a host of volunteers.

Duggan, the driving force behind it, says she is living testimony about how the better angels of human nature might arise after an accident like hers. “It’s not about ego,” she said of her art.

Duggan was also referring to life in a larger perspective. “My life is about service,” she said. It’s (her life since 1989) given me meaning. We all need meaning in life.”