10th Anniversary of Revolutionary Teaching Approach that Offers the Severely 'Disabled' the Gift of Self-Expression - Throug...(eton University President Shirley Tilghm...),Health

Lefens has no formal training in treating people with disabilities; he's an abstract painter. But he, unlike most others, can relate to the barriers and misconceptions that hold back the disabled on the most intimate level -- not only is he a painter, he is also legally blind. Lefens gradually lost his sight, in a slow, painful process, to hereditary retinal degeneration.

Initially, Lefens offered his students a technique that involved rolling their wheelchairs over paint and moving such that they utilized the weight and power of their electric wheelchairs as an artistic impression tool; the motion and direction of the chairs' wheels acting as pencil or brush, serving to translate their emotions to the canvas. Lefens observed an immediate change in their outward behavior -- almost instantly transforming hushed and subdued attitudes into feelings of unbridled passion and excitement. Although this "rolling" technique was limited in its scope, Lefens knew he was on his way to cracking the code that would offer liberation and release to the million-plus people in the U.S. with the most serious physical and neurological challenges.

Lefens dug deeper, broadening the approach. He came upon the concept that a laser pointer, if attached to a headband, could be used by the artist to reach out --- to point, to touch the canvas and to direct the application of paint. Lefens assisted the students in this technique and developed clear menu choices, an infinite series of "yes" and "no" questions to build the painting -- one creative decision, one brush stroke, at a time. The student directs the tracker where to cut the canvas from the roll, so that they get the precise size they want. Again using choice menus, the artist picks color and ratios of blending, the process fully in their control, the tracker simply doing as directed, until it is exactly how the artist wants it.

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