Brands and Boxes

Born with disability, I was aware from a very early age that my body did not conform to the norm: I was lopsided, there were many physical things I simply could not do.  The invisible aspects of the disability were never discussed: it was probably never even imagined that they might be as or perhaps more real than the obvious.

The moment I begin thinking about this my mind leaps to my relationship to “Bob,” the 6-year-old piano student with whom I bonded instantly: blind since birth, autistic, severely developmentally challenged, non-verbal, and with no sensation in his fingertips.  Safe to say his ear was his only connection to others.  It was, in fact, his evident ear-involvement which had brought him to the attention of the Physical Therapist working with his class at the Lighthouse for the Blind.  It was she who recommended that his mother contact me.

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