June 1, 2000 Story Search
Doable: Art is his voice
Published in the Asbury Park Press 06/01/00
By LINDA WALLS
"They knew I was special when I put a puzzle together with my knees."
Not special as in disabled; special as in gifted.
Yet Dan Keplinger's successes -- his art show in SoHo is running concurrently
this month with an award-winning documentary on his life -- may well be a
byproduct of his cerebral palsy.
"She knows," a 24-inch by 18-inch oil painting by Dan Keplinger. "I'm more
determined to do something when I'm told I can't," he said. He calls it his gi
mp, as in Webster's second definition: fighting spirit.
"King Gimp," which won an Oscar at this year's Academy Awards, debuts at 7
p.m. Monday and replays at 1 p.m. June 10 on HBO. Keplinger's first major
solo exhibit of portraits and still lifes opened last week at New York's
Phyllis Kind Gallery; most of his paintings sold opening night.
And while artists usually consider their works a form of self-expression, for
Keplinger, whose CP affects articulation and movement, art is a form of
speech. The 27-year-old painter talks in oils through a brush attached to
helmet-shaped headgear. And instead of using an easel, where uncontrollable
movements could send canvas and paint pots flying, Keplinger works down on
the floor.
"Art is my most effective method of communication," he said in an e-mail
interview last week. (He also types, one key at a time, via a headstick
connected to his helmet.)
Until art, cerebral palsy was a stumbling block to conversation.
"It was hard for me to communicate with most people because they didn't want
to take time to understand what I was saying," Keplinger said. Although "I
found if people really want to know me, they have no problem understanding
me. It doesn't matter how long it takes."
Dan Keplinger at work surrounded by his paints. Meanwhile, "after the Oscar
and seeing the film, I notice people have been taking more time to talk with
me and to understand me."
Oxygen deprivation at birth is cited as a possible cause of his CP. His mom
said his father wanted to institutionalize him; the couple divorced when he
was 6. Later, Keplinger sought out his paternal grandmother "and she, my
aunts and some other of my father's family came into my life for a brief
time. During that time I saw my father once. They faded out again. I did my
part. I don't know what he is feeling now."
The toughest part of growing up with CP, he said, was "being accepted by
society for who I really am. People didn't take time to realize I was a
normal person underneath this exterior."
Keplinger discovered art in high school, where he was mainstreamed (thanks to
his mother's fighting spirit). An aide accompanied him to classes and a
student volunteered to help with homework; both served as his interpreters.
But "art gave me a way to express myself without anyone interpreting for me."
For parents of children with disabilities, he advises to always be supportive
of your child; listen to teachers and be open to advice "but always remember
you are the expert when it comes to your own child," that you know your
child's limitations, strong points and weaknesses. "In the classroom setting,
children with disabilities have a lot to contribute." Keplinger's
determination inspired other students, his teachers reported.
However, the fighting spirit comes from within, he said. "To become a true
gimp, the person has to have the drive to meet their own goals, set by
themselves and not other people. Nobody else can make it happen."
A virtual exhibit of his work will be available on the Web at www.hbo.com.
through June 30, during the run of the actual show. The site also will
feature information on "King Gimp" and Baltimore filmmakers Susan Hannah
Hadary and William Whiteford, who documented Keplinger's life over 13 years.
Linda Walls, a member of the Presidents Committee on the Employment of People
with Disabilities, is a parent and grandparent of people with disabilities
ranging from deafness and Tourette's syndrome to cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Her column appears the first Thursday of the month on the Home & Family
cover. Her e-mail address is [log in to unmask] or write to her at the Asbury
Park Press, 3601 Highway 66, Neptune, NJ 07754.
Published on June 1, 2000
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