Creative studios, blog 12: Christy Brown, then and now
Whilst working on master I came across a book called My Left Foot by Christy Brown who had quadriplegic cerebral palsy, this was a true story. Brown was born in the 1930’s in Dublin, Ireland, he was born one of twenty-two children which four had died. Christy says his birth was a difficult one and had to spend first few weeks in hospital along with his mother and whilst is mother got discharged he had to spend longer in there. His mother noticed once he came home that something was not quite right, at four months old she noticed that he was not sucking his bottle properly or have the strength to hold his head up and as Christy had gotten older he was not hitting his milestones. Christy’s mother had taken him to numerous hospital appointments and seen different doctors but non of them knew what was wrong with Christy and he was a Mistry. His Mother was the backbone of the family and even though the family could of put him in a home for people with disabilities his Mother and father wanted him to stay with them at the family home; outside of his family home, other family members told his mother he was a lost cause but his mother would not have it, she was determined and even though Christy had no sign of anyone been inside his body she knew he was in there and had to help him find a way out. Back in the 1930’s children or adults with disabilities where put in homes and kept behind close doors, they were basically locked away because they were seen as less then, this is something that in my project Oiii I want to highlight; I want to show how different life is now to then but that in this world we still have a lot to learn. As Christy grow up and got to school age he still had not changed physically, he was still like the baby physically but mentally he was all there he knew what was going on around him and took everything in but his body was failing him and could not find away to make his body work. After years and years of trying to do some movement he reached out with his left foot and grab a piece of chalk out of his sisters hands and began to draw something on the floor, when his family saw what he was doing he was writing his first word. His mother was in right, they was somebody in there, he was not a lost cause.
Over the years Christy struggled with the fact that he could not be like his other siblings or friends, his body didn’t work and feel into a deep dpression, when he used to play as a kid outdoors he felt like people where staring at him, judging him and with him not been little anymore and his brother and sisters not been able to take him out on the cart and had gotten harder to take him out and Christy ended up becoming self-isolated. Christy’s mother homeschooled him as they was not the facilities in schools to deal with Chrsity’s disability and over the years his mother was the only one he would connect with. This is where they are differences between Christy and my sister Katie, Christy was born in a time where disbailiy was not expected or acknowledged, health professionals were not as knowledgeable on these type of condtions as they are now and they was not the equipment they is today. Christy had grown up sitting on the sofa, lying on the floor or pillows around him whereas Katie from a young age had physical therapy, regular hospital appointments, medication, wheelchairs, splints and when she was younger walking frames, she also has a sleep systems and is now fed through a feeding tube. Katie loves daily life and is happy, whilst Christy and Katie have the same codtion they are variants. By variants I mean different degrees, so you can have Cerebral Palsy in one arm or leg, down one side of the body, or like Katie and Christy the whole body but unlike Christy, Katie has the learning disability and is where the changes in Katie and Christy are seen. Katie does not have the full understanding of life and can not make decision for herself, she only knows a few words and this life is all she has known, she knows no different and is one of the happiest people I know, I want my project to be able to show the differences between now and back in the world Christy grow up in and that you should not feel sorry for Katie as she enjoys life, she got to go to school, have days out and is now at day care and loves being with her mates. One of the biggest differences between then and now is that people with disbaility and are intreated into to todays society and I want to show this side of disability not the side that Christy grow up in. I can not wait to see how my project ends and grows through out this process.
Siobhan :)
23/10/21