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From the
Chicago Tribune:
Carrie Sandahl (pictured in red) talks about Chicago with the wide-eyed wonder of a newcomer. She's enthralled by the cultural energy, the varieties of educational programs for kids and families and the on-going opportunities for new talent, especially artists with disabilities.
"Chicago is so progressive,'' says Sandahl, 41, an advocate for disability rights who has become a leading researcher on disability and the arts. She arrived last fall from Florida State University in Tallahassee to head a new program at the University of Illinois at Chicago called the Program on Disability Art, Culture, and Humanities. The curriculum is devoted to research of and the creation of disability art.
"I've always had my eye on Carrie and what she could bring to UIC," says Carol Gill, an associate professor and director of graduate studies in the doctoral program of disability studies at UIC. "Carrie is a scholar who is also engaged in the community. She ignites creative juices in everyone. She challenges students to rethink issues such as what is normal, what is beauty."
In class and through her artistic work Sandahl, a trained actress, writer and filmmaker, addresses with humor and satire the stereotypes assigned to the disabled. Audiences later this month will get a taste of that when Victory Gardens Biograph Theater shows a trio of short films from her series, "The Gimp Parade."
In the videos, Sandahl — who was born with a congenital condition that impairs mobility and limits stature —skewers sacred cows such as Jerry Lewis telethon's poster children and pokes fun at the famous water scene from "The Miracle Worker."
"Sandahl's force is humor," says Mike Ervin, a playwright and disabilities advocate who will lead the discussion with Sandahl following the film. "When I heard Carrie was moving to Chicago to work at UIC, I was really glad. She adds enormous talent to Chicago and makes this city stronger in terms of opportunities for actors and artists with disabilities."
Sandahl, an associate professor at UIC, is also the driving force that gave Bodies of Work, a citywide disability arts festivals, a permanent administrative home in the program. The 10-day festival was last held in 2006. The next Chicago festival is scheduled for spring 2012, said coordinator Theresa Pacione.
Sandahl's schedule is full. In addition to teaching, she writes grants for projects, travels around the country speaking on behalf of arts education and disabilities; and works within the community to promote awareness of the contributions and vision of artists with special needs.
She says her husband, Randal Svea, is her "anchor," especially in raising their two children, Gregory, 7, and Audrey, 2.
Much of Sandahl's passion about promoting awareness of artists with special needs and their contributions comes from her own experiences. Born without a sacrum and the last two vertebrae, her body proportions are different than the typical person's, said Sandahl, who is short of stature and walks with a limp. Raised on a farm in Hood River, Ore., Sandahl was attracted to writing and community theater growing up. She pursued a major in theater at University of Puget Sound, where she did everything from performing to stage building to costume design.
While she wanted to play the ingenue, she said she was cast in stereotypical ways with roles like "the crazy person," "wacky sidekick" or in male roles. Though disabilities showed up frequently in plays, no one was talking about it, she says. It was this lack of dialogue or representation that fueled a career path.
She got a Ph.D. in theater criticism from University of Wisconsin at Madison then taught for 11 years at Florida State University. She founded The Mickee Faust Club, a disabled performance group in Tallahassee. That experience inspired her film shorts "The Gimp Parade."
Sandahl is currently working on a documentary film with playwright and actress Susan Nussbaum, filmmaker Salome Chasnoff and Columbia College professor of film and media studies Laurie Little. "Carrie brings activism and awareness of arts and disabilities to a new level," said Nussbaum.
The film will show how Hollywood has depicted the disabled in film from the 1910s onwards and Sandahl promises no Hollywood studio or mogul will be overlooked.
"We're going to poke fun at everyone. No holds barred."
From the Chicago Tribune:
