Amputees and beauty, amputees and dance, amputees and athletics; these words seem to be incongruous. But, everywhere we look we see the exceptional, so seeing these words together should be beginning to seem normal. After all we have Heather Mills (McCartney) Dancing with the Stars with only one good leg! Recently on NPR’s All Things Considered there was a story about Lisa Bufano, an award-winning artist. When she was 21 she developed a staph infection which caused both of her legs to be amputated along with her fingers.
Now 34 she runs, dances, and makes sexy, beautiful, movement pieces of art that bring her comfort and her audience the chance to see what real life is and should be. The link to the NPR article is http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7728628 .
You can also find many articles in your State Library’s Databases that will show life success stories from many types of amputees. Try the Thomson-Gale (InfoTrac) databases and use the search term “amputees narratives”. Using the ProQuest databases try the search term “amputees AND athletes”. SIRS has articles perfect for exploring this area with young people. Try using “athletes with disabilities” for a search term in SIRS. Your State Library brings the world to you! http://www.kslc.org/
