BCIFV home > Media Releases > June 16, 2000

For Immediate Release
Contact: (604) 669-7055
June 16, 2000

Media Release:

Glenn Gould Discovery Could Change Attitudes
and The Person Within could, too

"Famed pianist believed autistic," proclaimed a recent Reuters headline. The article explained that Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, widely considered brilliant but eccentric for habits such as rocking and humming loudly while performing, may have had a rare form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome.

The theory has been proposed by Timothy Maloney, director of the music division at Canada's National Library. During Gould's career, critics derided him as a show off. Re-evaluating that assessment would not only set the music world on its ear, but draw attention to false assumptions about people with disabilities.

"In our society, we treat people with disabilities as if they have nothing to contribute," says Sally Rogow, a retired UBC professor of special education.

"This is especially true for children. How many times have we read in the news about some parent or group of parents who feel that so much money is going into bringing children with disabilities into mainstream classrooms that other children are being deprived?

"But how can we say that one child is more deserving than another of having his or her needs met, especially when we are surrounded by evidence of what children of all levels of ability can do with a level of nurturing commensurate with their needs and abilities?"

Gould, for example, was one of the greatest concert pianists of our time. Deaf actress Marlee Matlin brings strong performances to stage and screen.

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking acquired his disability late in life. But what if he had been born with cerebral palsy instead of developing ALS as an adult? Would he have had access to an education adequate to allow him to develop to his full intellectual potential?

Athletes like Terry Fox and Rick Hansen also acquired their disabilities later in life. But what if they had been born with the same disabilities, schooled in segregated classrooms, and programmed to think of themselves as lesser beings than able-bodied people. Would they then have been able to achieve the goals they did?

It was partly with this in mind that Rogow conceived of The Person Within. Consisting of a 30-minute video and two-day workshop, The Person Within draws attention to our society's ongoing emotional abuse of children with disabilities.

"Every time we exclude a child from opportunities to have as full a life as possible simply because that child has a disability, we are committing emotional abuse," says Rogow. "Every time we exclude a child from a mainstream classroom, leave a child out of social activities, or deprive a child of age-appropriate opportunities to explore his or her world, we are telling that child that he or she is worth less than a child without disabilities.

"Why would we do that?"

The Person Within targets professionals such as physicians, teachers, and social workers who deal with children with disabilities as part of their practice, as well as parents, caregivers, and the general public. It defines emotional abuse of children with disabilities, discusses its consequences, and offers recommendations for avoiding it and remedying its effects.

For more information or to arrange a video screening and workshop, contact the BC Institute Against Family Violence, (604)669-7055, reception@bcifv.org, or www.bcifv.org.

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