Disability Etiquette - Did you know?

Posted by DCA Theater on July 20, 2009 in Site Unseen

Now in its sixth annual edition, Site Unseen 2009 (Monday, November 9 from 6-9pm) will feature works by local artists that bring visibility to issues presented by disabilities of all kinds. In preparation for the event, we have sought out information from “Open Doors Organization” a Chicago-based group founded in 2000 for the purpose of creating a society in which all persons with disabilities have the same consumer opportunities as those without.

Open Doors was kind enough to share their “Etiquette Guidelines” document which details appropriate interaction and communication with or about people with disabilities.

See below for selected tips or click here to download complete [PDF].

• Speak directly to the person with a disability.

• Do not refer to a person’s disability unless it is relevant.

• Most people with disabilities prefer “person-first” terminology such as “person who is blind” or “people with disabilities” since this acknowledges them as people first rather than their disability.

• Avoid referring to groups of people by their condition or disability such as “the blind,” “the deaf,” etc.

• Avoid sensational descriptive words when referring to a person’s disability such as “suffers from,” “is a victim of,” “is afflicted with.”

• Never say anything that you would not want said to or about yourself.

• Wait for instructions on the help needed and follow the instructions.

• Let people know, especially those who are blind or have low vision, where they are and where you are taking them.

• Do not pet service animals as they are working. Provide escort to an animal relief area if requested.

Clover Morell joins Site Unseen as Assistant Curator

Posted by DCA Theater on July 9, 2009 in Site Unseen

Submitted by Clover Morell

Project by Julie Laffin and Clover Morell

“Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it.” – Helen Keller

I have lived with a lifelong immune deficiency that has led to repeated glimpses of disability. In fact, over the past few years, much of my life has been guided by a desire to grow comfortable with the pain, fatigue and depression that have become a regular part of my life. With age, my deficiency has turned into disease and I am spending more time trying to manage the discomfort. Unlike Site Unseen curator Julie Laffin, I still have more good days than bad ones. For this I feel blessed and a deep empathy for all the people in my community whom are struggling with their own “disabling conditions”. There are so many of us.

Out of oppressive conditions, people thrive and produce courageous, stunning gestures. We process complicated and difficult experiences by giving voice to an existence we might otherwise hold in silence. This is how we persevere. It is not only a labor of love but also one of necessity. Site Unseen is a testament to this. Within the show you can find relationships between contemplation, play, labor and interaction that offer us new ways of seeing the world. Live art and media unfolds into the architecture of the Cultural Center in just the perfect combination, allowing visitors a magical and visceral encounter with language.

I have been involved in Site Unseen as both a performer and an audience member since its first incarnation in 2004. I have a special place in my heart for the show. In fact, there is no other space in Chicago that feels quite as much like an artistic home to me. With that, I am excited to continue my work within Site Unseen and The Chicago Cultural Center, especially in my new role as Assistant Curator. It is a great honor for me to work with Julie (who is an endless inspiration) and offer my presence within the space as her translator and an intermediary. It is my hope that the fewer number of artists involved this year will give the viewers a chance to really sit with each piece and engage in the work. We have an amazing group who all offer much to contemplate and enjoy. As an intermediary, I invite you to share with me your thoughts about the work and spend some time with both Julie and I during the show to discuss your impressions.

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Artists announced for Site Unseen 2009

Posted by DCA Theater on July 9, 2009 in Site Unseen

For one night only, on Monday, November 9, the Chicago Cultural Center will host Site Unseen, a site-specific performance event featuring theater, dance, music, and visual art by individual artists and ensembles of local and international acclaim.  The performances, installations, and video works will all consider issues around disability and will be created specifically for the rooms and architecture of the Chicago Cultural Center.

Now in its sixth annual edition, Site Unseen 2009 will feature works by local artist that bring visibility to issues presented by disabilities of all kinds.  This theme emerged because Julie Laffin, the project’s ongoing curator, has become increasingly disabled by environmental illness and complications from chronic Lyme Disease.  This year’s presentation reflects her own struggles with new disabilities and the effects on her artistic collaboration with Chicago DCA Theater Director Claire Geall Sutton.  Along with this year’s assistant curator, Clover Morell, Laffin and Sutton are collaborating on a piece that chronicles this experience.

Participating artists creating audio, performance, spoken word, movement-based, and media installation art include Mike Ervin, Judith Harding in collaboration with Still Point Theatre Collective, James Kubie and Katrina Chamberlin, Mike McGowan, Clover Morell, Marissa Perel and Madeleine Bailey, Debra Tolchinsky, and Unreal-estates (Annette Barbier and Drew Browning).

Performances will take place concurrently throughout the galleries, halls, and rooms of the Chicago Cultural Center and need not be viewed in any particular order. 

Read statement by curator Julie Laffin

Click “Read More” to view photos of previous works by this year’s Site Unseen artists.

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(dis)abling conditions

Posted by DCA Theater on April 16, 2009 in Site Unseen

Written by Julie Laffin, Site Unseen Curator

Julie and earth (self-portrait) photo: © Julie Laffin

it’s been a long, hard winter. the extreme cold and being cooped up for weeks on end at home have taken their toll. ironically, isolation is usually my best defense against a host of bizarre symptoms triggered by the least little thing. i might be reacting the gas heat in my house now along with the list of everything else that ails me. i spent a lot of time lying in bed flat on my back (crying). it was the best position to avoid almost constant dizziness and migrating pain. i also had severe bouts of fatigue, some tremulous episodes, brain shocks, vision problems, muscle twitches and spasms, frequent balance disturbances, and parathesias and neuropathies from minute chemical exposures and electrical sources. it’s been hard for me to compute on my laptop or talk on the phone. i have not seen my family in almost two years.

but now it’s time to focus, to try and see things through, crawl out of this hole and open myself to finding a bright spot. every year since 2004, i have been the curator of an exhibition at the chicago cultural center called site unseen. for one night in november artists take over the historic landmark building that was once the chicago public library and make site specific works tailored to the buidling which is rich with history, past, present and future (this amazing building will outlive us and future generations and in the event of nuclear winter will be the last surviving structure. it’s a monolith, replete with tons of marble of two of the world’s most famous tiffany domes).

the ephemeral nature of the show which features live and installation art, mostly performative, that goes up and disappears three hours later provides an interesting antithesis to the architecture. the first year the show was one night only because there was only one night in the calendar year that all the main ballrooms were available. after that it became institutionalized.

site unseen is a labor of true love. this year, for me, it’s about persevering and trying to shape something out of what is, not what was. there is a theme for our latest incarnation and you can probably surmise from the title it has everything to do with my current health status.

over the past four years i have become increasingly disabled by severe environmental illness. except for two months of last year, i reside in mchenry county, illinois where i’m generally confined to my house, the interior of my house more specifically. i am unable to go outside very much because i am severely sickened by laundry fumes, car exhaust, wood smoke and lawn chemicals to name the biggies. public interaction is a thing of the past. while in illinois, i only leave my house to go to the doctor (almost impossible now in the best of circumstances because of my severe fragrance reactions) and to get out for air by walking in the woods. i wasn’t always this way. in fact, i was a girl who rode a bike long distances and laid on sidewalks in gigantic self-made evening gowns. i traveled to perform my work and did the things other chicagoans do including commuting to the loop to work on michigan avenue on the twentieth floor of a high rise building.

so, how do i curate a show about being in and working with a physical space that i can no longer go to? this is the challenge claire geall sutton and i are grappling with as we construct what we think will be a very compelling and dynamic show, defined by my current limitations. today in spite of my symptoms, as i envision our show, i feel my lifeblood coming back and my hope resurfacing.

Click here to read the original post and other blogs on planetthrive.com

Check out photos from Site Unseen!

Posted by DCA Theater on November 24, 2008 in Site Unseen

Take a look at the following websites for audience photos from Site Unseen.
Blogspot:
SUPERBADFRIEND
Flickr:
Robert Loerzel
Beanplum

Photo by Robert Loerzel