Why is art important?
Imagine living in a world full of silence. Imagine not being able to listen to music or watch your favorite television show. To add to that, imagine spending all your free time reading textbooks to study for your next exam. To top all of that, imagine not being able to afford proper care to help overcome your disability. Unfortunately, this is not imagination for some children. This is reality.
With a deaf population of over sixty million people, India still does not have a strong, well rounded education system for the disabled. Schools like The Helen Keller Institute for the Deaf and Blind offers free or subsidized education, transport, nutrition, hearing aids, medical facilities and counseling services for children, teachers and parents for their students. But what is missing from these schools is holistic education. The first step to providing this would be incorporating an arts program. This would provide disabled students with an outlet to do something non-academic, an outlet to express themselves. I say this for three reasons. First, the arts provide an important venue for adolescents to express who they really are. Drawing, painting and sculpting let kids who are more tactile by nature pour their feelings out in a way that feels comfortable. Creative and artistic thinking allows adolescents to take control of something. At this age they are still told what to do and how to do it, both at home and school. They crave the chance to have some freedom of expression and make some decisions on their own. This is especially important for hearing impaired children since they are at a disadvantage when compared to others. It is more challenging for them to express themselves using music or dance; but art is one method where their disability does not matter. They would be able to use art as a method to express their thoughts and feelings without the assistance of someone else. The second reason is that art is a great way to promote problem solving. Art permits teens the opportunity to think creatively and figure things out. In drawing, painting, and various other mediums, there are quite a few mathematical and scientific calculations that need to be figured out. Through art, teens can continue to learn about perspective, geometry and chemistry, to name only a few. Since schools for the disabled are not aware and therefore do not use 21st century skills, students are not aware of problem solving skills since they are not faced with “problems” per se, but art would provide an opportunity to think out of the box and use those skills to figure out something new, something that doesn’t require common logic. The third reason is that art creates an identity. Since the teenage years are when adolescents tend to question their values and beliefs, art can provide an outlet in which they will be able to create their own identity, away from identities that were already given to them. Disabled students would benefit a great deal by this since they are not able to freely communicate their beliefs and identity. Art would bridge the gap between their world and the world around them. La Maison D’Art aims to inspire underprivileged hearing impaired children to express their thoughts and feelings through art. The kids we work with are part of a school called Shalom in Matunga, Mumbai. The mission of the club is quite similar to that of The Boys and Girls Club. The Boys and Girls Club aims “to enable all young people, especially those who need us most, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible citizens”. Similarly, we aim to provide an outlet for disabled kids to express themselves. Currently, there is no art program at Shalom, therefore we would like to take the initiative to expose underprivileged hearing impaired kids to the world of art. Although there are schools that are educating disabled children, it seems that a traditional, old fashioned education is not enough. In order to prepare the children for the world outside of their schools and homes, it is essential that they receive a holistic education; the first step being exposing students to the world of art. |