When an able bodied person sees someone in a wheelchair, they may think that moving around in a wheelchair can be limiting. It's not just a wheelchair that sticks out as a cumbersome accessory - any device that people with disabilities use is more often than not perceived as a burden. In order to curtail stereotypes about disabled people and to make able bodied people understand that accessibility devices do not cause hindrance, but instead bring more freedom and ability to be as independent as possible,  Reveca Torres is presenting an audiovisual art exhibit that features six artists with disabilities and portrays their daily lives through the means of photographs, poems and music. Reveca is also the executive director of Backbones, an organization that helps people with spinal cord injuries. 

Majority of able bodied people don't know how to connect with disabled people, and this art exhibit aims to address that. Through this exhibit, the audience will also learn how these artists process the world and how they think others process them. It is all about understanding the world from others' perspectives, focusing on the sensitivities and insensitivities involved, and understanding the challenges disabled people face and how they overcome them. The exhibit will also encourage businesses to help include people with disabilities as customers right from the get go instead of having them as an afterthought. 

"The Art of Normal" opens at the Morton Civic Center in Evanston, IL on November 19 and will close on December 31. Entry to this exhibit is free.

The Art of Normal team is also posting exhibit updates regularly on Twitter (@TheArtofNormal).

Source: The Daily Northwestern, City of Evanston

Image source: City of Evanston