Thank you for this article, and for your art. It is a privilege to encounter it.
2
I just wandered in here and had the most profound and unexpected experience yet on this site. Thank you very much. Kind regards, tmc.
2
Thank you. That's lovely to hear.
1
You were indeed lucky. Congratulations on your achievements, all of them.
3
I love this essay. Where can we see more of your portraits?
4
www.rivalehrerart.com and click on the links in the article. and thanks!
3
What a lovely piece. It managed to lift me out of my dreary train ride home.
There are few people I know who have made such a profound contribution (both as artist and scholar) to our society as this artist / scholar.
Thanks for writing and sharing this marvelous piece Riva Lehrer.
You rock.
Thanks for writing and sharing this marvelous piece Riva Lehrer.
You rock.
13
You're on that roster as well, Tim. You know your work has made my own better.
1
I love the last paragraph. That's real medical training.
10
This is beautiful and thought provoking. Thank you.
6
This is perfect. As a (hopefully) fiery mother of a child with an anatomical difference, this is what I hope to show and teach him. Thank you.
5
Thank you so much for your work and for your beautifully written window into it. It's sometimes difficult to remember, when the political sphere appears to be crumbling, that there are other many other spheres in which good people are doing good work. Only a few people know or care about the political machinations of renaissance Italy, but they know the name Da Vinci. They know Michelangelo and Galileo. Take a long enough view, and it becomes comfortingly clear that history remembers people who create. Perhaps in millennia to come our current political strife will be confined in interest to a handful of historians, and a culture much better and wiser than our own will hold up art like yours as evidence of the goodness that was present even in our troubled era. One can only hope.
11
Your article moved me. I went to your web site and looked through the art there. The work is profound and beautiful. Thank you for sharing your story, thoughts and talent with us. I am richer for the experience.
6
My first born child, a son, was born in 1965 with the condition described in the piece. I was not allowed to see him. The pediatrician said we should put him in a home where he would soon die. .One of the nurses told me that God was testing me. I was put in a room with another mother who was nursing her baby. I was made to feel that my baby was somehow a disgrace,w was I.
Fortunately, we lived in a city with a major university and medical school. We were put in touch with a young senior resident who was doing experimental advances in surgical correction of myelineningocoele and also hydrocephalus, which often accompanies it.
As a result of early surgery in his first month of life, our son grew up bright and normal -- although he walked with a limp and also had internal organ difficulties,as described in the piece. He went to college and graduate school and earned a Ph.D in his chosen field of history. He taught at college level until his condition forced him into early retirement. He is outgoing and has many friends and has achieved much more than we dared hope when he was born. For him, as for the author of the piece, life even with a disability has been full and beautiful.
Fortunately, we lived in a city with a major university and medical school. We were put in touch with a young senior resident who was doing experimental advances in surgical correction of myelineningocoele and also hydrocephalus, which often accompanies it.
As a result of early surgery in his first month of life, our son grew up bright and normal -- although he walked with a limp and also had internal organ difficulties,as described in the piece. He went to college and graduate school and earned a Ph.D in his chosen field of history. He taught at college level until his condition forced him into early retirement. He is outgoing and has many friends and has achieved much more than we dared hope when he was born. For him, as for the author of the piece, life even with a disability has been full and beautiful.
25
What an absolutely beautiful piece.
I'm afraid I don't have anything particularly profound to offer, just that I thoroughly enjoyed your piece and your writing, and thank you for sharing it with us.
I'm afraid I don't have anything particularly profound to offer, just that I thoroughly enjoyed your piece and your writing, and thank you for sharing it with us.
13
My first born child was a boy with this condition. It was 1965 and I had never heard of it. The child was born full term with normal weight and health. I was not even allowed to see him for more than a moment. One of the nurses told me that God was testing me. The pediatrician said we should put him in a home to die. It would be better never to see him. it was a double room and they put next to me another patient who had just given birth also and was nursing her baby.
Fortunately, though, this was in a city with a university with a. first rate medical school. There was a pediatrics neurosurgical resident there who was perfecting the new techniques for surgical intervention in these cases. We brought our baby there and he had two major operations within a week's time, one to close the spinal lesion as described in the article, and one to install in the brain a shunt to relieve hydrocephalus, which often accompanies myelomemingocoele.
He grew up bright and normal, although with a limp and other problems with internal organs, as mentioned also in the piece. He achieved academic excellence and earned a Ph.D and taught at college level for a while. Early developing orthopedic complications ended his career too soon,but his experience shows what can be achieved.
My son has many friends and has been able to live a fuller life than we could ever have imagined. The article stresses rightly the importance of recognizing what is beautiful and unique in each of us.
Fortunately, though, this was in a city with a university with a. first rate medical school. There was a pediatrics neurosurgical resident there who was perfecting the new techniques for surgical intervention in these cases. We brought our baby there and he had two major operations within a week's time, one to close the spinal lesion as described in the article, and one to install in the brain a shunt to relieve hydrocephalus, which often accompanies myelomemingocoele.
He grew up bright and normal, although with a limp and other problems with internal organs, as mentioned also in the piece. He achieved academic excellence and earned a Ph.D and taught at college level for a while. Early developing orthopedic complications ended his career too soon,but his experience shows what can be achieved.
My son has many friends and has been able to live a fuller life than we could ever have imagined. The article stresses rightly the importance of recognizing what is beautiful and unique in each of us.
8
Wonderful writing..as the Mother of a disabled child that died at age 10, in 1983, I regret that we didn't have the openness about this subject that we now have. Few people would ever look at my child, their gaze was always elsewhere. Again, thank you.
12
Thank you to everyone who is commenting here. There are no easy answers to how any of us feel about our bodies; I still very much have days of struggle, where my best hope is for pellucid moments of respite.
But I do know that mirroring is crucial in our attempts to move through this world. If all we ever see are images built of shame and shards, it's very hard to want to see yourself at all. I'm still trying to understand how to describe the beauty and creativity and pain and truth and complexity of embodiment. It's not about inspiration. It's about trying to see anew.
I appreciate all your thoughts. It's been a remarkable day. Riva
But I do know that mirroring is crucial in our attempts to move through this world. If all we ever see are images built of shame and shards, it's very hard to want to see yourself at all. I'm still trying to understand how to describe the beauty and creativity and pain and truth and complexity of embodiment. It's not about inspiration. It's about trying to see anew.
I appreciate all your thoughts. It's been a remarkable day. Riva
26
Thank you Riva! As a new RN I worked at Cincinnati Children's Hospital from 1979-1985 where Dr Lester Martin (I think the very same) was Professor of Pediatric Surgery. I was honored to assist in some small way many children and their families as they heroically lived and loved. You are so beautiful!
2
I agree with the central themes of your article. But it is too narrow. All "minds" are exquisite, too. Persons with serious brain disorders, such as bipolar disorder which accounts for more suicides than any other disease (as a percentage of sufferers), rarely draws support from any quarter. When a bipolar person is in a mania that person can easily alienate employers, friends, the community and even immediate family members. They can ruin their life in a week. These behavoirs will never be forgiven or forgotten, but if they were the result of a brain tumor, then they are likely to be completely forgiven.
Many great persons from Van Gogh to Dick Cavett have had or have bipolar disorder. Make no mistake, however, it is a disability, as are many other brain disorders. Let's not remember only those whose disabilities are apparent from their bodies. Brain disorders which are much less apparent can be even more disabling.
Many great persons from Van Gogh to Dick Cavett have had or have bipolar disorder. Make no mistake, however, it is a disability, as are many other brain disorders. Let's not remember only those whose disabilities are apparent from their bodies. Brain disorders which are much less apparent can be even more disabling.
3
I agree - I'm mainly writing here as a figure artist and anatomist, but you are completely right. RL
8
Thank you. You are to be admired as an artist and a person.
2
I have a 'hidden' disability. I did not read this piece to be at all what you're saying. And as far as "more disabling," that seems a little like one-upism. Disabilities are like the people who have them: diverse and across the spectrum.
What's interesting about all the portraits is the way the intelligence and intensity of each subject comes out making them all people I'd want to know.
5
As a disabled person reading the comments, PLEASE stop talking about the "human spirit"! Usually I can take it, but not after this essay.
This is exactly the opposite of accepting physical bodies for what they are. We do not ask that you see our bodies as "transcending" or "representing" anything -- just see them. See our bent limbs, our wasted muscles, our crooked faces. Just SEE them. And know that we are you. Resist the urge to escape to the safety that clocking us as an "inspiration" affords you, and face your vulnerability.
Do not place disability under a bell jar and call it beautiful. I am connected to this life by blood, bone and love, just as you are. Stare into my eyes and you will see your reflection staring back at you.
This is exactly the opposite of accepting physical bodies for what they are. We do not ask that you see our bodies as "transcending" or "representing" anything -- just see them. See our bent limbs, our wasted muscles, our crooked faces. Just SEE them. And know that we are you. Resist the urge to escape to the safety that clocking us as an "inspiration" affords you, and face your vulnerability.
Do not place disability under a bell jar and call it beautiful. I am connected to this life by blood, bone and love, just as you are. Stare into my eyes and you will see your reflection staring back at you.
38
Laurie, thank you for taking this conversation to another level
2
Beautiful essay. Thank you for introducing me to your world. Especially impactful as I am a mother of a disabled child.
7
Super stoked to finally have someone get that transgender people and diabled people are so similar.
As a transgender woman, Ive always felt an affinity for disabled people. Being transgender is a form of disability in my opinion.
Here is where me and the author differ. The author asserts that disabled people are beautiful and then goes on to make the argument that because they are beautiful it is good that they exist.
Disabled people are more beautiful than cishet supermodels in my opinion. Transgender people are also beautiful in my opinion. My wife is transgender and absolutely beautiful. Yet, I wish disabled and transgender people didnt exist in todays hateful world.
Being different sucks..For every famous artist disabled person with a happy life and a NYT piece there are 100 disabled people who are abused by others, who hate the pain that is their life, or just wish they could stand up and walk. For every transgender woman like me whose happy with her life and body after transitioning, there are 100 other transgender women that suffer and never transition, that try to start families as cispeople and ruin the lives of their spouses and children, that become drug addicted prostitutes, or that just wish they could wake up one day as a cisgender person of their gender identity.
I hope medical technology causes us to disappear. I love my life, but being transgender sucks. Being disabled sucks. Being different in any way sucks
As a transgender woman, Ive always felt an affinity for disabled people. Being transgender is a form of disability in my opinion.
Here is where me and the author differ. The author asserts that disabled people are beautiful and then goes on to make the argument that because they are beautiful it is good that they exist.
Disabled people are more beautiful than cishet supermodels in my opinion. Transgender people are also beautiful in my opinion. My wife is transgender and absolutely beautiful. Yet, I wish disabled and transgender people didnt exist in todays hateful world.
Being different sucks..For every famous artist disabled person with a happy life and a NYT piece there are 100 disabled people who are abused by others, who hate the pain that is their life, or just wish they could stand up and walk. For every transgender woman like me whose happy with her life and body after transitioning, there are 100 other transgender women that suffer and never transition, that try to start families as cispeople and ruin the lives of their spouses and children, that become drug addicted prostitutes, or that just wish they could wake up one day as a cisgender person of their gender identity.
I hope medical technology causes us to disappear. I love my life, but being transgender sucks. Being disabled sucks. Being different in any way sucks
9
I've never been good at drawing. I realized at a young age that my attempts still resembled my earlier ones where the house was square with a triangular roof, pathetic looking chimney, and feeble attempts to depict the sky overhead. I don't complain as I was gifted with rather profound musical abilities. Still I think anyone can be taught if they have the right teacher and attitude.
But how I would have loved to take such a class when I was in medical school in NYC more than two decades ago. I remember being inspired by the late Frank Netter MD. While in med school a teacher noticed his exceptional abilities at drawing what he saw in the cadaver lab and encouraged him to pursue that. He ended up being renowned as a medical illustrator and it was his book of anatomical drawings that was the bible owned by every medical student. If you see a poster depicting an anatomical drawing in a doctor's office that's probably Dr. Netter's work you're seeing.
But this is on another level entirely. Every medical school should offer such a course. My how medical school seems to have changed for the better. I don't know how they pull it off, greater emphasis on humanities and making more well-rounded doctors while the amount of information they need to absorb has increased exponentially. I read articles on such efforts in the medical humanities but the younger doctors mostly seem so robotic and overwhelmed, overly reliant on radiology and lab tests.
This piece brought tears to my eyes.
But how I would have loved to take such a class when I was in medical school in NYC more than two decades ago. I remember being inspired by the late Frank Netter MD. While in med school a teacher noticed his exceptional abilities at drawing what he saw in the cadaver lab and encouraged him to pursue that. He ended up being renowned as a medical illustrator and it was his book of anatomical drawings that was the bible owned by every medical student. If you see a poster depicting an anatomical drawing in a doctor's office that's probably Dr. Netter's work you're seeing.
But this is on another level entirely. Every medical school should offer such a course. My how medical school seems to have changed for the better. I don't know how they pull it off, greater emphasis on humanities and making more well-rounded doctors while the amount of information they need to absorb has increased exponentially. I read articles on such efforts in the medical humanities but the younger doctors mostly seem so robotic and overwhelmed, overly reliant on radiology and lab tests.
This piece brought tears to my eyes.
4
Thank you. I love the work. Here's a link to my and my colleagues' courses:
http://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2017/03/students-apply-humanities-...
http://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2017/03/students-apply-humanities-...
3
Dear Riva Lehrer, You've inspired me today.
As artists, of course we often try to see well beyond the mere appearances, like capturing how we feel about the wrongness in the world.
However, I never imagined using art in the way you describe here, as a way to bring out the inner beauty in a person even when most of the rest of the world cannot see it. It takes time and artistic inspiration to capture that. This beauty is something that a camera rarely does well -- so you help inspire new meaning and purpose to the canvas.
As artists, of course we often try to see well beyond the mere appearances, like capturing how we feel about the wrongness in the world.
However, I never imagined using art in the way you describe here, as a way to bring out the inner beauty in a person even when most of the rest of the world cannot see it. It takes time and artistic inspiration to capture that. This beauty is something that a camera rarely does well -- so you help inspire new meaning and purpose to the canvas.
3
Thank you. I was born with several anomalies, some obvious, some very not. I have advanced degrees, family who love me, and I still struggle with the ideas of being attractive, lovable, enough.
6
It's remarkable when someone reveals a marvelous view of reality we may never have considered. Riva Lehrer's perception and skill show that life enriches us when we look with open eyes, open minds, open hearts. Her account of her life, career and friendships is inspiring.
5
A lovely read! May I say that we parents of children with Spina Bifida salute you! When it comes to tenacity, courage, smarts, remarkable resourcefulness, and good humor, you broke the mold. It's a privilege to be part of your lives.
6
How poignant this essay comes out
the same week we have been told that
genetic engineering of the conceived child is possible.
the same week we have been told that
genetic engineering of the conceived child is possible.
3
And what a beautiful painting. Thank you for this essay.
4
What an extraordinarily beautiful essay.
4
Your story is beautiful and poignant. Although I myself have no disability, as a young student nurse I saw cases which I truly didn't even know existed because of my sheltered, middle-class upbringing. And it was in the pediatric unit at SF General Hospital where I first met children with, like you, spina bifida, osteogenesis imperfectus - brittle bone disease, and hemophilia with subsequent limb amputations, to mention just a few. At first, to be honest, I was stunned...until, however, I had the opportunity to get to know these heroic and resilient young individuals. I found when I worked with them I no longer even noticed their outward differentness, for lack of a better word. In fact, they inspired me and taught me as a young adult a lesson that I carry until today: Beauty is so much more that what lies at the surface. It is in the soul, and that is all that really counts during our earthly Odyssey.
11
Powerful writing and wonderful illustrations...! The painting of Eli Clare made me think of a book in the series by SciFi/Fantasy writer Orson Scott Card's "Speaker For the Dead" and "Ender's Game." Worth adding to a summers reading list again.
3
Your terrific parents of blessed memory are kvelling at their brilliant daughter's gifts to the world.
2
In 1983, a couple on Long Island gave birth to a baby with Spina Bifida - which became a political and social cause celebre --
Referred to as "Baby Jane Doe" - after consulting with their doctors, and weighing he pros and cons of elective surgery to try and correct Baby Doe's serious birth defects - her parents decided not to have the surgery and, in essence, let nature take its course --
Against outside attempts to force the parents to allow the surgery - the parents claimed their so-called "Right to Privacy" outweighed any those attempts, with doctors agreeing that ...early death [is] a management option" for infants "considered to have little or no hope of achieving meaningful 'humanhood.'"
While the ACLU supported the parents - and viewed their "Right to Privacy" in this case as being an extension of that right supplied by Roe v Wade -- other real liberals - such as the late Nat Hentoff -- were quick to point out that even though the parents of Baby Doe may have a right to privacy via Row v Wade -- those rights paled badly in light to Baby Doe's constitutionally-protected rights to life and liberty --
Ultimately the parents prevailed in court - and Baby Doe was left to fend for herself with proper care - but no surgical intervention --
But guess what - ? -- She survived and lived for years afterwards. In fact - here's a NY Times article from 1984 about life on her first birthday --
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/14/nyregion/baby-doe-at-age-1-a-joy-and-b...
Referred to as "Baby Jane Doe" - after consulting with their doctors, and weighing he pros and cons of elective surgery to try and correct Baby Doe's serious birth defects - her parents decided not to have the surgery and, in essence, let nature take its course --
Against outside attempts to force the parents to allow the surgery - the parents claimed their so-called "Right to Privacy" outweighed any those attempts, with doctors agreeing that ...early death [is] a management option" for infants "considered to have little or no hope of achieving meaningful 'humanhood.'"
While the ACLU supported the parents - and viewed their "Right to Privacy" in this case as being an extension of that right supplied by Roe v Wade -- other real liberals - such as the late Nat Hentoff -- were quick to point out that even though the parents of Baby Doe may have a right to privacy via Row v Wade -- those rights paled badly in light to Baby Doe's constitutionally-protected rights to life and liberty --
Ultimately the parents prevailed in court - and Baby Doe was left to fend for herself with proper care - but no surgical intervention --
But guess what - ? -- She survived and lived for years afterwards. In fact - here's a NY Times article from 1984 about life on her first birthday --
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/14/nyregion/baby-doe-at-age-1-a-joy-and-b...
2
Just lovely.
1
The writer is now an adult with obviously a fully developed and functional intellect and personality, and nobody sane would question that it is fortunate he survived the condition, surely not me.
Nonetheless, it is fact that no person gets harmed if fetuses with this condition are aborted, because they are not people yet. There is a reason nobody remembers anything before about the age of three: Our brains are not developed enough. Aborting a fetus (for any reason) does not harm a person because there is no person, yet.
And being healthy is better than not being healthy. Always. Period.
And even though some people born with severe disabilities may go on to live fulfilled lives, there is no good reason to carry such pregnancies to full term when the woman does not have to.
Which, again, does not in any way imply that if such a child survives, for any reason, and becomes an actual thinking person, he or she should be valued any less than other people.
And that is why, for me, being a proponent of humane eugenics and respecting people with disabilites is not at all mutually exclusive.
Nonetheless, it is fact that no person gets harmed if fetuses with this condition are aborted, because they are not people yet. There is a reason nobody remembers anything before about the age of three: Our brains are not developed enough. Aborting a fetus (for any reason) does not harm a person because there is no person, yet.
And being healthy is better than not being healthy. Always. Period.
And even though some people born with severe disabilities may go on to live fulfilled lives, there is no good reason to carry such pregnancies to full term when the woman does not have to.
Which, again, does not in any way imply that if such a child survives, for any reason, and becomes an actual thinking person, he or she should be valued any less than other people.
And that is why, for me, being a proponent of humane eugenics and respecting people with disabilites is not at all mutually exclusive.
6
It seems telling that this commentator missed the gender of the writer, as s/he seems to have also profoundly missed the point of this beautifully written essay. S/he seems proud of her/his self-perceived ability to consider people with disabilities as fully human beings, as long as they are "an actual thinking person".
"Being healthy is better than not being healthy. Always. Period." speaks to the arrogance of those who have decided that they, and they alone, can determine the criteria for what counts as beauty, well-being, and a meaningful life. Evoking abortion is supremely unhelpful in discussing disability rights as is trying to rescue eugenics from its very tarnished history. Arguing that women should, indeed, have the right to make decisions about their own bodies is a far cry from trying to determine the worthiness of a life.
One of the many joys of this piece of writing is that it demands to be read, contemplated, and read again. That Ms. Lehrer is also an accomplished visual artist only makes the piece more powerful. Her portraits are astonishing in their skill and insight.
To react with textual equivalent of a patronizing pat on the back and reassurance that she has somehow justified her existence through her abilities is such a disappointing and diminished response to a writer and artist who brings such beauty to the world.
"Being healthy is better than not being healthy. Always. Period." speaks to the arrogance of those who have decided that they, and they alone, can determine the criteria for what counts as beauty, well-being, and a meaningful life. Evoking abortion is supremely unhelpful in discussing disability rights as is trying to rescue eugenics from its very tarnished history. Arguing that women should, indeed, have the right to make decisions about their own bodies is a far cry from trying to determine the worthiness of a life.
One of the many joys of this piece of writing is that it demands to be read, contemplated, and read again. That Ms. Lehrer is also an accomplished visual artist only makes the piece more powerful. Her portraits are astonishing in their skill and insight.
To react with textual equivalent of a patronizing pat on the back and reassurance that she has somehow justified her existence through her abilities is such a disappointing and diminished response to a writer and artist who brings such beauty to the world.
11
The author of this essay is a woman. She. Not he.
What a lovely piece of writing! My children's first babysitter had a daughter with spina bifida. Here mother was matter of fact about her condition and special needs. She took children into her home, to enable her to look after her daughter and her other two children. My children were often taken to doctor appointments and learned to be patient. They adored that girl. It was a great experience and both volunteered to be companions to autistic kids when they were in school. Both are adults now and work as fundraisers for a disability organization.
7
In "A Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemingway, Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald carry on a philosophical discussion.
Hemingway asks Fitzgerald: what is the truest representation of a young woman? A photography that emphasizes the young woman's unappealing nose? Or a painting which de-emphasizes her nose and burnishes her inner beauty?
Fitzgerald chose the painting. Hemingway chose the photo.
Hemingway asks Fitzgerald: what is the truest representation of a young woman? A photography that emphasizes the young woman's unappealing nose? Or a painting which de-emphasizes her nose and burnishes her inner beauty?
Fitzgerald chose the painting. Hemingway chose the photo.
2
Exquisitely beautiful to read. Got me choked up. Thank you for your humanity.
9
The most beautiful thing of all is the human mind. Be patient. Death is the great equalizer. Some think of it as the release from suffering and disappointment. I believe life continues after the body ceases to be physiologically viable, and that all our beautiful souls are beautiful forever, together. The fiends rejoin their home; the saints reconnect with each other.
3
I don't know if i believe this, but my cat sure does.
Interesting exposition. Beautiful painting!
1
Imagine if humanity could commit to peace,sustainability,fairness,health care for all, sharing, love. Now open your eyes to reality.
2
This piece reminds me of Oliver Sacks and his focus on the essential humanity of all the individuals of whom he wrote — or, in Sack's words, "...the human subject, striving to preserve its identity in adverse circumstances." In "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", Sacks wrote about one individual who couldn't speak but expressed himself through drawing. Sacks also wrote of an elderly man who stopped making memories when he was about 20 years old (the age that he still perceived himself to be) but who, when he prayed, "found continuity and reality in the absoluteness of spiritual attention and act".
Ms. Lehrer, I'm grateful to you and to Oliver Sacks for reminding me that our concepts of "normal" physical and mental attributes pale in comparison to the moral and spiritual capacities that truly make us human.
Ms. Lehrer, I'm grateful to you and to Oliver Sacks for reminding me that our concepts of "normal" physical and mental attributes pale in comparison to the moral and spiritual capacities that truly make us human.
24
What a beautiful and life-affirming piece to end my day. Thank you for writing it.
7
I like the way you began the article. How you felt upon seeing what you may have looked like at birth. How you had to fight passing out at the sight. Then, that mother saw you at birth - and fought for you. All the surgeries you had.
After reading the article and the comments, I thought of Pope Francis, who hugs and kisses so many disabled persons.
What a difference love makes. If only we all loved more.
After reading the article and the comments, I thought of Pope Francis, who hugs and kisses so many disabled persons.
What a difference love makes. If only we all loved more.
18
Beautiful account of your journey. My young adult son is struggling to come to terms with/find peace with his (milder form of) autism. He has denied it for years, surpassed many early predictions and now at 22 is trying to understand what his mild but real challenges actually mean. Your article has helped me understand both the extra struggle and the potential gifts that come with a lifelong challenge. Thank you
8
Ms. Lehrer, you are a superb artist, and an excellent teacher as well. You take your students beyond the biology to see the personal, spiritual side of human beings. Well done, in both artistic and educational endeavors.
9
Your piece has stimulated both my heart and brain and I am grateful for having stopped to read this. Continued strength to you and others with the same challenges and victories.
15
I wish Riva Lehrer had a regular column on NYT. Or any venue that allowed her to reach a larger audience. This increasingly shallow, superficial, and impatient society really needs her voice and insights badly.
24
Maybe the NYT should seek out more Riva's to share with the rather large audience it has. They are out there. Quietly going about their lives, enriching, without seeking super hero status.
Hey, NYT, listening? This article truly touched my soul.
Hey, NYT, listening? This article truly touched my soul.
1
I am floored, and moved, by the beauty and depth of your artwork, Ms. Lehrer.
9
The assignments you give your drawing students are a gift to us and to them. Thank you. And, your parents did a great job raising a fabulous person.
6
Ave.
And all the best possible...
And all the best possible...
3
That's a truly interesting and engaging article. I've learned something. Thanks, you're a person with whom I'd like to talk.
12
Thank Hensinger, and Phillips, Joann Vennes, and Herzenberg, among others. Hard, smart people you'd want on your side.
1
A thought-provoking essay, and wonderful portraits. Ms Lehrer is an inspiration.
9
As a fellow artist, I congratulate you on your work, they are very fine paintings. Thanks for the well written essay.
7
Bravo! Very moving and in not very elegant language, you have performed a public service; I learned a lot from your strength of purpose
.
.
9
Thank you a most touching piece. Many blessings to you.
5
A truly inspiring article!Thank you Ms. Lehrer.
I remember in my much beloved tai chi class when a forward thinking teacher
Told me of a new name for the disabled.
This new name I spread where ever I encounter "people with different abilities".
Thank you again for sharing your story talents and those of Eli Clare.
I remember in my much beloved tai chi class when a forward thinking teacher
Told me of a new name for the disabled.
This new name I spread where ever I encounter "people with different abilities".
Thank you again for sharing your story talents and those of Eli Clare.
10
Thank you for presenting us with yet another facet of human beauty (in the eye of the beholder). The will to live and let live personalized in folks with a disability to complete their being, and to enrich our diversity, is a tribute to courage most of us wish we had enough of.
7
There is only one multicolored multiethnic multi-faith multi-national multi-abled DNA genetic biological evolutionary fit human race species. Each one of us is an exquisite humble humane empathetic miracle.
Thank you for sharing your humanity.
Thank you for sharing your humanity.
13
Your writing swept me along into a different perception of beauty and disability. To day dream the life of the person - - an invitation to concentrate fully on the portrait, a kind of inverse of staring at an uncomfortable person, to move more to their own view of themselves...
For the medical students - to connect an elaborately drawn, but deceased, fetus, with living people who transcended that disabling beginning, will forever shape their responses.
For the medical students - to connect an elaborately drawn, but deceased, fetus, with living people who transcended that disabling beginning, will forever shape their responses.
11
Thank you for a great article.
What lucky students to have you for a teacher.
What lucky students to have you for a teacher.
9
This was a great piece and an introduction to a new artist. I went to Ms. Lehrer's website to look at her other work, and some of it is even more moving than the images in this article. I definitely recommend viewing it. Ms. Lehrer powerfully presents all types of people in situations of dignity, and reveals her subjects as complete, complex human beings in which the body is only one aspect of self.
20
This writing is suburb. You are reaching into some deep insight that I just barely get, but I know you are saying something very important and that I need to hear. I will reread. Thank you for your life and for sharing it.
26
This has the corollary - "Where all brains are conserved".
Riva's essay is a sign of intelligence that we are gifted by a forward thinking doctor and science trusting parent. Preserving the intellectual gifts as well as the "exquisite" bodies is a foundation in our apparently losing battle with survival. If we are to perservere our humanity in the current climate we need the creative powers of all brains.
Riva's existence is a sign that some brains that previous generations have discarded are not any longer. That gives me hope for solutions will come for the problems at hand. If we just lend that hand to those who need, deserve or even have a right to that hand our lives will be richer. Our future may actually depend on it.
Riva's essay is a sign of intelligence that we are gifted by a forward thinking doctor and science trusting parent. Preserving the intellectual gifts as well as the "exquisite" bodies is a foundation in our apparently losing battle with survival. If we are to perservere our humanity in the current climate we need the creative powers of all brains.
Riva's existence is a sign that some brains that previous generations have discarded are not any longer. That gives me hope for solutions will come for the problems at hand. If we just lend that hand to those who need, deserve or even have a right to that hand our lives will be richer. Our future may actually depend on it.
7
You are fortunate to have the parents you have but you really were most fortunate to be born in the first world and not in poverty.
17
I find this reminiscent of the comments my adopted kids face - about how lucky they are that I adopted them. I always want to say (and sometimes do), "Lucky? To have what you got without having to go through all my kids went through?"
Yes, I suppose that IF you are going to have to deal with spina bifida, you're "lucky" to do it in the first world and not in poverty. But this comment seems someone dismissive and bitter towards the author for having the "luck" to have gone through all she has gone through in the first world and not in poverty. Why the need to slight her?
Yes, I suppose that IF you are going to have to deal with spina bifida, you're "lucky" to do it in the first world and not in poverty. But this comment seems someone dismissive and bitter towards the author for having the "luck" to have gone through all she has gone through in the first world and not in poverty. Why the need to slight her?
6
Beautiful. Thank you for this. This kind of article makes my subscription worthwhile rather than the predictable offerings from the regular opinion columnists.
Very thoughtful.
Very thoughtful.
10
While I was brought to tears with compassion for the author of this essay, there is one point that disturbs me. He WAS on the brink of discovery of how to deal with this accident of development in fetuses. Those "specimens" in the bottles represent the course of scientific discovery that led to his survival. The pain of the families who are related to those fetuses must have been profound as they faced the despair of losing a life that they had anticipated as bringing them joy. After the pondering of this essay, I find the real tragedy not in the jars in the museum, but rather in a society that still refuses to embrace all people, regardless of their color, their gender or their unique physicality. We are who we are from the inside, and I seem to remember that we all have beating hearts, and the blood of all of us is red. Normal is being alive, not the shape of our bodies.
21
This article, oh my, -thank you NY Times for this, and thank you, especially Rive Lehrer. Mr Tom's comments reflect just one of my reactions to this touching read, so I'll repeat here:
"Being disabled from birth has to be one of the greatest challenges the human spirit can face simply to be able to survive. And to rise above even that and go on to an achievments and a productive life is remarkable".
"Being disabled from birth has to be one of the greatest challenges the human spirit can face simply to be able to survive. And to rise above even that and go on to an achievments and a productive life is remarkable".
12
The challenge isn't being disabled, it's society.
9
The thing is, most of us have some "abnormalities." And, unfortunately, we hear about them from strangers. Your paintings are truly beautiful and I hope they help people everywhere to not so much look past the differences, but accept them and not let them affect their judgment.
10
Judging others impulsively and reactively seems to be one of the most accessible behaviors of the human condition, and for reasons passing understanding becoming more and more acceptable as a behavior.
Good to be reminded that there is a complete human being inside each and every body deserving of respect, friendship, dignity, and compassion.
Good to be reminded that there is a complete human being inside each and every body deserving of respect, friendship, dignity, and compassion.
8
Thank you so much for this article! I am also an artist, was also born in 1958, and I was also born with a myelomeningocele. As a fellow "could have been a specimen in a jar" baby, I'm grateful to hear of your experience. I was extremely lucky to have a skilled surgeon, and a lesion that was much lower on my spine (nearly at my tailbone, which was removed). I've often felt that I'm living on borrowed time, and so I have to do as much as I can in appreciation. I wish you joy.
50
Thank you for this powerful reflection on acceptance and embrace of the other...whoever that may be. The ability to really "see" and contemplate are the gifts that the arts cultivate. Wonderful to hear that you are imparting those skills to the next generation of healers.
7
Riva Lehrer, your intellect and expressive talents shine a light into an aspect of life that most of us able-bodied people have no clue about. It is one of the highest functions of art to illuminate what's directly in front of us, and we're all enhanced by your creations. Your writing is as profound, compassionate, and as incisive as your paintings are. Thank you.
31
Thank you for this moving and illuminating article. My mother had severe rheumatoid arthritis and died at age 53, when I was 19. It still stabs a dagger into my heart when I think of the cruel and clueless comments people would make to me and my siblings about her right to our faces. In chatting at work one day, a fellow employee once told me, "Wow, you really got a "lemon." At her death in 1975, there was little public accommodation of the disabled. Nonetheless, my mother continued to manage a nursing home she and my father had established until the first stroke took her out. I experienced the insensitivity of the general public toward humans who are different second hand, but my mother's courage and compassion and the example she gave to others of the exceptional abilities of the "disabled" inspired everyone who knew her. As does your lyrical art.
70
Not everyone is born, so-called perfect, nevertheless we are all human. Humanity is realized through art, advocacy and the desire to exist and flourish. We need more of this sort of understanding and acceptance of each other.
12
Our 'modern' world is so preoccupied with perfection that we fail to see the beauty in we who are perhaps less than perfect physically. Our wonderful variety of shapes, sizes, colors, abilities are reflected in nature every day. Do we criticize a tree with a bent branch or a crooked carrot? Does a calico cat get teased because of its different colors? So then why do we throw away our babies who differ from the Gerber Baby look? How sad that our world is deprived of the contributions of our 'less-than-perfect' citizens and unforgivable that those of us who are outside the norm are not valued for who we are inside. It's horrifying and shameful. Nazi Germany redux?
10
I take your point, but your post sentimentalizes animals and humans alike. Cats may not tease each other because of their color, but sheep ostracize black lambs. Many mammals kill disabled young; some eat them as well. As for blaming a preoccupation with bodily perfection on our modernity, take a good look at the way the Greeks and Romans dealt with disabled infants and adults. They killed the former, and they mocked the latter, as a cursory examination of their paintings and sculptures shows. The idea that people with serious disabilities deserve the same degree of dignity as the non-disabled is very recent in human history.
15
What I m reminded of while reading you article is how easily life intervenes into a compassion orientation. Many things "out there" work together to eclipse the innate compassion engendered by the artist's attention to the humanity of their subject(s), or one's natural abilities to be spontaneously compassionate towards the "other." It seems it used to be easier. Thank you so much for articulating what I miss about being an artist: the power to evoke and illuminate that which might otherwise go unseen and unheard.
11
Being disabled from birth has to be one of the greatest challenges the human spirit can face simply to be able to survive. And to rise above even that and go on to an achievments and a productive life is remarkable. This was a very difficult read but one that you are grateful to the writer for sharing in great detail the challenges some face. And grateful to the NYT for publishing it giving us a chance for greater understanding of that human spirit. It also caused me to reflect on the one statement in the flood of many statements made over the last two years - this by Hillary Clinton - about developing the habit of gratitude.
"the habit of gratitude."
And here is a final thought. The Times is daily, it seems, being accuse of "fake news
yet the publish for our understanding an article like this.
"the habit of gratitude."
And here is a final thought. The Times is daily, it seems, being accuse of "fake news
yet the publish for our understanding an article like this.
16
@Tom osterman-nice words, yes, "the habit of gratitude" is a nice slogan. Many of Hillary's same supporters openly criticized Sarah Palin's choice to have her last child who was born with Down's Syndrome.
The NYT didn't flinch in printing many commenters' remarks that "she should have aborted her retarded baby". Really.
How many of those same people are here waxing poetically about disabled people now? Probably many of the same. But according to them, Sarah Palin should have "aborted her retarded baby".
The NYT didn't flinch in printing many commenters' remarks that "she should have aborted her retarded baby". Really.
How many of those same people are here waxing poetically about disabled people now? Probably many of the same. But according to them, Sarah Palin should have "aborted her retarded baby".
5
I completely agree with you. Some of the same readers wouldn't see any contradiction between R. Lehrer's column and the movement for assisted suicide/euthanasia of seniors and the disabled.
5
Elisabeth, that is a wild, picked-out-of-thin-air assumption. I agree that the NYT should never have let those awful comments post. But you do not know what became of the people who posted them.
Any sentence that begins with 'probably" is inherently suspect.
Any sentence that begins with 'probably" is inherently suspect.
4
You GO, Sister!!
10
I agree. What an inspiring, eye-opening, bias-breaking piece. "Thanks, I needed that!"u
5
Sorry...s/b 'did not take away their reality...' pax, jb
Thank you for this wonderful essay. I am especially pleased med students are schooled in acute empathy by drawing the specimens. Drawing is a very active sort of reflection, and walks the student to someone who lives with the condition that the fetus could not survive. It brings to mind St Margaret of Castello who was born with severe disabilities, hidden in a room by her parents who eventually abandoned her at a shrine. The beauty of her spirit of generosity to others glorified her disabilities in a way that did take away their reality, but added to their strength. Thank you so much, Riva Lehrer. Pax, jb
51
What your glasses see is amazing and wonderful. Thank you for letting me borrow them.
104
This might be the best and most concise comment I can recall reading in the NYT. Considering how intelligent and well informed many of the readers are, that's saying something. Wonderful glasses indeed, we should all have such "myopia."
2
Your essay is poignant and beautiful. I'm the communications guy at an agency serving people with disabilities in New Jersey. I am also a respite worker, right alongside many wonderful people. And, yes, they are beautiful.
31
Sometimes, with everything else going on, I forget why art matters. I mean: really matters. Thank you for this poignant, vivid reminder.
139
What a beautiful and touching essay - the paintings shown here are gorgeous!
I will be looking for more of your work.
Thank you for opening the window to let others see the world as you have experienced it and your path to greater acceptance and love.
I have been hearing about you and your work and spirit for several years from a mutual friend, Elizabeth R. the painter. Now I see why she holds you in such high regard. Best wishes!
I will be looking for more of your work.
Thank you for opening the window to let others see the world as you have experienced it and your path to greater acceptance and love.
I have been hearing about you and your work and spirit for several years from a mutual friend, Elizabeth R. the painter. Now I see why she holds you in such high regard. Best wishes!
41
Thank you for the eye opener and reminder of our humanity, and the treasure each one of us has.
24
Thank you for this moving and thought-provoking essay. I was deeply touched by your voice and your work.
43
Such an extraordinary reflection through the lens of an artist lifted my spirits this morning. Thank you.
23
Thank you. I will share this with a friend who has lived with cerebral palsy (CP) for 75 years. I've learned so much from her about these very issues. Have had to examine my prejudices, learned at my mother's knee. Certainly, fear based. Hopefully, our culture will grow out of it.
36
This is a pleasure to read and see, Thank you for your generous gift.
59
What a beautiful testament to the human spirit.
64
David from Tasmania: did you not read what Riva wrote about this kind of attitude: "God preserve me from Inspiring Monuments to the Human Spirit"? Despite your goodwill, she is not here to be a "testament to the human spirit." Her whole point is not to be an inspiration for "overcoming" or "transcending." That's what ablebodied people want.
7