The Canary Report

Giving new meaning to the term disabled

Posted on May 06, 2009 by Susie Collins in Blog, MCS, Media/Videos, Susie Collins

The Buddha with 1000 Hands is performed in Germany by the China Disabled Peoples Performance Art Troupe. Members of the dance troupe are deaf, so cannot hear the music.

Once when I nearly self destructed in a class at the university due to my Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, I had a very wise philosophy professor tell me that I was not alone living with a disability: everyone is disabled in one way or another, he said. He himself suffered great pain from war injuries, and walked with a hunch and a limp, yet taught his class with more enthusiasm and compassion than any other of my professors.

“What can I do to help you?” he asked me when I was unable to complete the very first weekly test on logic. Those syllogisms and logic proofs were jumping all over the page, blowing my mind while I breathed in my classmates’ perfumes and deodorants and the classroom’s stale air. “What do you need to get the most out of this class?” he asked. “Can I give you an alternative testing site? Do you need extra time?”

He taught me that there is always another way to do things, there is always a way to keep dancing through life despite disability. He taught me how to focus, push through the mayhem brought on by chemical exposure, and relearn how to use my cognitive thinking skills. He patiently worked with me proof after proof until I figured out the solutions and understood the reasoning. His support gave me the encouragement to figure out how to compensate for what everyday toxic chemicals do to my memory and learning skills. That professor changed my life.

I finished in the top four on the midterm out of a class of 50, did pretty well on the final, and got an A in the class.

I am disabled by MCS. But I define disability very differently now than I did before that class. And that includes the way I define my life with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity.

Video credit

Postscript: This post was inspired by my new Twitter friend Philip Arnold, UK, who shared this video with his followers. After I wrote this post, he kindly responded at Stumble Upon. Thanks again, Philip!

Philip also has shared about the dance:

“This is a representation of the Boddhisatva Avaloketishvara, the embodiment of compassion. The thousand arms represent the infinite compassion of the Buddha. This in turn represents the female, empathic part of the psyche. Avaloketishvara’s male counterpart is Manjushri, the embodiment of wisdom.”

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Tags: Art