Reject everyone and transfer them to the vehicle for further disposal for soap and fertilizers.
Margolin Mikhail Vladimirovich (1906-1975) - design engineer, inventor of small arms, who lost his sight at the age of eighteen. For the development of new models of small arms, Margolin was awarded the title "Honored Inventor of the RSFSR". The inventor created his first small-bore sports rifle in 1934, and in 1949 - a small-bore sports pistol named after him.
Francesco Landini (1325-1397) was born in 1325 in Fiesole, near Florence, in the family of an artist. He lost his sight at the age of 6 after smallpox and was nicknamed Chieko (blind).
According to Villani, he began to study music early (first singing and then playing strings and the organ) - "in order to ease the horror of the eternal night with some consolation." His musical development proceeded with wonderful speed and amazed those around him: he perfectly studied the design of many instruments ("as if he saw them with his eyes"), made improvements and invented new designs. Over the years, Francesco Landini surpassed all his contemporaries - musicians who lived in Italy. Landini received a comprehensive liberal arts education. He knew grammar, philosophy, art, poetry, even astrology; studied music from Florentine masters.Ivan Yakovlevich Panitsky (1906 - 1990)
The name of Ivan Yakovlevich Panitsky - an outstanding accordion performer, soloist of the Saratov Philharmonic - is known to every musician, to all lovers of Russian folk musical instruments. At two weeks of age, through the negligence of a hospital nurse, he lost his sight.Marlee Matlin (1965) is an American actress. She lost her hearing at the age of one and a half, and, despite this, at the age of seven she began to play in the children's theater. Received an Oscar at the age of 21
Stevie Wonder (1950) is an American musician, singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. Lost his eyesight in infancy. Too much oxygen was supplied to the oxygen box where the child was placed. The result is retinal pigmentary degeneration and blindness. He is called one of the greatest musicians of our time.
Sergei Anatolyevich Popolzin (1964)
An artist who completely lost his sight at the age of 25. The amazing paintings of Sergei Popolzin brought him fame not only in Russia, but all over the world. On his canvases, the simple and understandable are combined with the mysterious and unknown. Images, colors and feelings - they all live together in the picture.Stephen Hawking (1942) is a famous English physicist - theoretician and astrophysicist, author of the theory of primordial black holes and many others. In 1962 he graduated from Oxford University and began studying theoretical physics. At the same time, Hawking began to show signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which led to paralysis.
It would also be nice to know in what conditions the childhood of these respected people passed. I suspect that it is not in the conditions of orphanages and children's homes with deviations in the development of the Russian standard.
It is quite difficult to get a chance to bring something meaningful to our culture - something that people will remember for a very long time. For every successful filmmaker, musician, actor, or sportsman, there are about 6,000 people with a similar level of talent who will never be recognized. Others will bask in the glory for only fifteen minutes, because that's what Andy Warhol said.
Therefore, choosing one of these careers is illogical and borders on insanity for almost everyone, but this is especially true for the people on this list who had congenital flaws that, in fact, should have stopped them when choosing this career path. It's good that no one told them about it.
10. Pioneering Filmmaker Who Made One of the First 3D Films Couldn't See in 3D
An independent 1952 film called "Bwana Devil" was the first experience of mass viewing a film in 3-D. The big studios decided to keep up, and House of Wax, released by Warner Brothers in 1953, was the first large-scale 3-D color film. Vincent Price was cast as the villain in the film, and Warner Brothers hired Andre De Toth, a Hungarian-born veteran of hero westerns and crime detectives, to direct the film. On paper, this was no doubt a great choice, but De Thoth lacked something very significant, as a child he lost an eye.
Price recalls: “When they were looking for a director for the film, they hired someone who couldn't see 3-D at all! Andre De Toth was a very good director, but he really was not the right director for a 3-D movie. He saw everyone's enthusiasm and said, "Why is everyone so excited about this?" It meant nothing to him. But he made a good picture, a good thriller. For the most part, the picture was successful thanks to him. "
The film firmly established the 3-D horror genre and Vincent Price as a horror star, even though the film's director never knew the reason for the audience's delight.
9. Fast Rap pioneer is asthmatic 
Many of the greatest rappers in history would tell you that they would never have become who they are if it weren't for Big Daddy Kane. Along with Rakim, KRS-One and fellow Juice Crew bandmate Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane pioneered a style with complex, rhymes composed of many syllables and internal patterns. He was probably the first recognized master of "fast rap", and aspiring rappers often used his first two albums as teaching aids.
Kane was also a dynamic live performer, dancing along with his dancer, reading the verses like a machine gun. It would be incredibly difficult for anyone, but it should have been impossible for Kane, who is suffering from severe asthma attacks.
Asthma can cause severe and sometimes life-threatening breathing problems in sufferers, which should logically deter asthmatics from choosing professions that require superhuman levels of respiratory control. So even though Kane was not the only MC to develop this style, it's safe to say that he was the only MC to do it, suffering from a health problem that was sent to him on purpose so that he would not practice. favorite thing. Besides, none of the other MCs danced as dashingly as he did.
8. Oscar-winning deaf actress 
Marlee Matlin (Marlee Matlin) lost her hearing at the age of 18 months, which absolutely did not prevent her from achieving tremendous success, and one that is able to shame all perfectly hearing lazy people. She was introduced to acting as a child, earning a major role in a children's theater production called The Wizard of Oz, and continued working as an actress into adulthood, earning a law degree in her spare time.
As a teenager, she played the female lead in a Chicago theater production called Children Of A Lesser God, and in 1986 she was cast as the opposite role of William Hurt in the film adaptation. For her role, 20-year-old Marley won the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the youngest actress and the only deaf actress to ever win the award.
Marley has had a long, successful career in television, film and as an author of children's books and her own biography, she also played herself in "Family Guy" and appeared in "Seinfeld", proving that she is also hilarious.
7. Bruce Willis stuttered until he was 20 
As a child, Bruce Willis, he said, was a restless child. Since you know Bruce, you probably weren't very surprised, but as with many top-notch clowns, it was a defense mechanism; "If I can make you laugh," Bruce said in a 1990 interview, "You won't notice that I stutter."
This was a huge problem throughout Willis's childhood and adolescence, and continued until he was twenty years old. He is often quoted as saying that “it took him up to three minutes to finish a sentence,” and he underwent speech enhancement therapy throughout his school years. Fortunately, he discovered acting at school and realized that as he acted, his stuttering went away.
Now, of course, he is one of our favorite actors, won a bunch of Emmy and Golden Globes, and starred in some of the most successful action films, and despite the fact that he has not stuttered for a long time, the sense of humor that he developed thanks to this problem, fortunately, remains.
6. Major League Baseball pitcher who played a no-hit game was born without his right hand 
In 135+ years of professional baseball history, fewer than 300 no-hit games have been played, and only one was played by a guy with one hand. But in fairness, it's worth noting that Jim Abbott was the only one-handed pitcher to ever play professional baseball, and those who followed his amateur career were hardly surprised.
Jim was born without his right hand, but people probably stopped telling him that he shouldn't play baseball at the time he was named the country's best amateur athlete in 1987. His team defeated the Cuban national team in Cuba, a feat no two-handed pitcher has done in 25 years, and ended his career by winning the unofficial (baseball was a demonstration sport at the time) gold medal for the United States in the Summer Olympics. 1988 year.
Then he made an unprecedented career choice, so what? Abbot has never won a championship, but has received several awards, he has a very decent number of points on his account and he played his legendary game without hits, which is safe to say will never be played by another guy with one hand. At the moment, he makes his living as a motivational speaker, and no one can argue with his qualifications for this position.
5. The iconic author wrote in a drunken stupor
Stephen King is one of the most popular authors in history, selling an estimated 350 million copies of his novels in nearly 40 years. His legendary power of description and ability to squeeze horror out of harmless things made him an incredibly successful novelist, despite the fact that he cannot remember writing many of his early works.
The fact is that King is an alcoholic with a capital letter, he also struggled with cocaine addiction between the 70s and 80s. Some of his most famous works - The Shining, Confrontation, and Pet Sematary - were written in a drinking binge that would cripple all but the most desperate alcoholics. How far has it gone? King said he had a hard time remembering writing two novels in particular, Tomminokers and Kujo.
He got rid of addiction in the late 1980s and after a short but harsh period of literary stupor, he again began to write magnificent works ("The Green Mile", "Under the Dome"), considered among the best. Despite having a serious and horrific car accident in 1999, he did not fall back into drunkenness, and remains a prolific writer, writing novels with his usual enthusiasm.
4. One of the greatest composers is deaf in one ear (and probably schizophrenic) 
The driving force behind the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson is undeniably one of the most important composers of American pop music ever. His fight against mental illness is fairly well known. Ingenious structures of chords and harmonies appeared in his head at the same time as disembodied voices telling him that he was going to die.
But that is not all. The Beach Boys' seminal album, Pet Sounds, released in 1966, was recorded with the advent of stereo. It was produced by Wilson, who was deaf in one ear. His intricate arrangements and innovative production methods would have been difficult for a producer with three ears, let alone one.
Although Wilson's demons sometimes threatened to overpower him (as a result, the album following Pet Sounds, titled Smile, had to be canceled at the end of 1966, mainly due to his mental state), at times he regained consciousness. completing the release of the album "Smile" in 2004. Today, Wilson remains a creative force that not everyone can match.
3. The most beloved president of the United States suffered from Addison's Disease
Everyone knows that there is no more difficult job in the world than that of the President of the United States. This is said to everyone who applies for this place and thinks that they can cope with this job. And they say this because a person must be a little crazy in order to have superhuman endurance, psychic energy and the ability to make quick decisions - that is, to have everything that is necessary for this work.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, perhaps the most beloved president of the United States, should not have had any of the above-mentioned qualities, and there is a very specific reason for this. Addison's disease is a violent autoimmune disease that Kennedy had. It attacks the adrenal glands, which produce adrenaline. Adrenaline can be compared to the type of fuel that people use, and one of the main symptoms of the disease is extreme fatigue. In addition to being tired, people experience dizziness, muscle weakness, nausea and difficulty standing up, in other words, in retrospect, it seems like Kennedy should have been in bed all the time.
He was diagnosed in the 1940s, but was able to keep it a secret until 1960, when he was elected president. Kennedy was able to withstand the physical stresses associated with the work of the president and, despite the mood swings and depression, which are also symptoms of Addison, he successfully negotiated in the most stressful diplomatic situations in the history of civilization. It can be safely said that the disease did not manage to keep him from fulfilling his duties.
2. Grammy Award Winning Multi-Instrumentalist Blind
Steveland Hardaway Judkins (yes, Steveland), better known as Stevie Wonder, went blind shortly after his birth. He is, of course, the creator of some of the greatest pop music tunes in history. His name was immortalized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In addition, he is considered one of the best vocalists to ever stand in front of a microphone. Most people know that Stevie can play the piano, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Even though he has never actually seen a single instrument, Stevie can play almost all instruments. Almost everyone, including the drums, on which he played his most famous hit (and one of the best songs ever), Superstition. He also played bass, guitar, clavinet and any other instrument involved in the recording, with the exception of trumpet and saxophone, which he gave up to a couple of studio musicians. And this is not an isolated case.
Needless to say, most sighted musicians are not that talented. Most of them also failed to record the hit, which was the first in many rankings, by the age of 12. Neither have they released five classic albums in a row, created the most memorable songs alongside the Beatles, or won 25 Grammy awards. This is because his stage name (Wonder in English means "Miracle") was chosen for a reason.
1. The box office detective writer was dyslexic
Agatha Christie's name is synonymous with mesmerizing secrets and crazy plot twists. She practically invented them along with the rest of the modern detective genre. To say that she is one of the most successful writers of all time is an understatement. It is estimated that four billion copies of Agatha Christie's novels have been sold worldwide. This number is second only to William Shakespeare, which you may have heard of in passing.
Agatha Christie achieved all of this, despite the fact that the very fact of writing (or reading) had to be incredibly difficult for her - Agatha Christie suffered from dyslexia, a learning disability characterized by difficulty in distinguishing sounds in written words. She also suffered from depression, and yet was able to establish herself fairly quickly as a respected author at a time when women were actually not taken seriously.
While Agatha Christie is not the only author who has had to deal with dyslexia, she is the only author (dyslexic or not, male or female, human or alien) who was able to sell almost as many of her books as Shakespeare did. She became the founder of the literary conventions that are still used today, almost a hundred years later.
December 3 - International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It was proclaimed in 1992 by the UN General Assembly.
Miguel Cervantes(1547 - 1616) - Spanish writer. Cervantes is known primarily as the author of one of the greatest works of world literature - the novel "The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha". In 1571, Cervantes, in military service in the navy, took part in the battle of Lepanto, where he was seriously wounded by a shot from an arquebus, which is why he lost his left arm. He later wrote that "by depriving me of my left hand, God made my right hand work harder and harder."
Ludwig van Beethoven(1770 - 1827) - German composer, representative of the Viennese classical school. In 1796, already a famous composer, Beethoven began to lose his hearing: he developed tinnitus, an inflammation of the inner ear. By 1802, Beethoven was completely deaf, but it was from this time that the composer created his most famous works. In 1803-1804, Beethoven wrote the Heroic Symphony, in 1803-1805, the opera Fidelio. In addition, at this time, Beethoven wrote piano sonatas from Twenty-eighth to the last - Thirty-second; two sonatas for cello, quartets, vocal cycle To a Distant Beloved. Completely deaf, Beethoven composed two of his most monumental compositions, the Solemn Mass and the Ninth Symphony with Chorus (1824).
Louis Braille(1809 - 1852) - French typhlopedagogue. At the age of 3, Braille injured his eye with a saddle knife, which caused sympathetic eye inflammation and became blind. In 1829, Louis Braille developed the Braille, which is still used around the world today, for the blind. In addition to letters and numbers, on the basis of the same principles, he developed musical notation and taught music to the blind.
Sarah Bernhardt(1844-1923) - French actress. Many prominent theater figures, such as Konstantin Stanislavsky, considered Bernard's art to be a model of technical excellence. In 1914, after an accident, her leg was amputated, but the actress continued to perform. In 1922, Sarah Bernhardt took the stage for the last time. She was already under 80 years old, and she played in "The Lady of the Camellias" sitting in a chair.
Joseph Pulitzer(1847 - 1911) - American publisher, journalist, founder of the yellow press genre. Blinded at 40. After his death, he left $ 2 million to Columbia University. Three-quarters of that money went to found the Graduate School of Journalism, with the remainder establishing the American Journalist Award, which has been awarded since 1917.
Helen Keller(1880-1968) - American writer, teacher and social activist. After an illness, suffered at the age of one and a half years, she remained deaf-blind and dumb. Since 1887, a young teacher at the Perkins Institute, Ann Sullivan, studied with her. In the course of long months of hard work, the girl mastered the symbolic language, and then began to learn to speak, having mastered the correct movements of the lips and larynx. In 1900, Helen Keller entered Radcliffe College and graduated with honors in 1904. She has written and published more than a dozen books about herself, her feelings, studies, worldview and understanding of religion, including "The World I Live In", "Helen Keller's Diary" and others, advocated the inclusion of the deaf-blind in the active life of society. Helen's story formed the basis of Gibson's famous play The Miracle Worker (1959), filmed in 1962.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt(1882-1945) - 32nd President of the United States (1933-1945). In 1921, Roosevelt became seriously ill with polio. Despite years of efforts to overcome the disease, Roosevelt remained paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Some of the most significant pages in the history of US foreign policy and diplomacy are associated with his name, in particular, the establishment and normalization of diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and the US participation in the anti-Hitler coalition.
Lina Poe- the pseudonym that Polina Mikhailovna Gorenstein (1899-1948) took when in 1918 she began to act as a ballerina, dancer. In 1934, Lina Po fell ill with encephalitis, she was paralyzed, and she completely lost her sight. After the tragedy, Lina Po began modeling, and already in 1937 her works appeared at an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts. A.S. Pushkin. In 1939, Lina Po was admitted to the Moscow Union of Soviet Artists. Currently, single works of Lina Po are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery and other museums in the country. But the main collection of sculptures is in the memorial hall of Lina Po, opened in the museum of the All-Russian Society of the Blind.
Alexey Maresyev(1916 - 2001) - legendary pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union. On April 4, 1942, in the area of the so-called "Demyansk boiler" (Novgorod region), in a battle with the Germans, Alexei Maresyev's plane was shot down, and Alexei himself was seriously wounded. For eighteen days, a pilot wounded in the legs crawled to the front line. Both of his legs were amputated in the hospital. But after being discharged from the hospital, he again sat at the controls of the plane. During the war, he flew 86 sorties, shot down 11 enemy aircraft: four before being wounded and seven after being wounded. Maresyev became the prototype for the hero of Boris Polevoy's story "The Story of a Real Man".
Mikhail Suvorov(1930 - 1998) - author of sixteen collections of poetry. At the age of 13, he lost his sight from a mine explosion. Many of the poet's poems are set to music and have received wide recognition: "Red Carnation", "Girls are singing about love", "Do not be sad" and others. For more than thirty years, Mikhail Suvorov taught at a specialized full-time correspondence school for working youth for the blind. He was awarded the title of Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation.
Ray Charles(1930 - 2004) - American musician, man-legend, author of over 70 studio albums, one of the world's most famous music performers in the styles of soul, jazz and rhythm-and-blues. Blind at the age of seven - presumably due to glaucoma. Ray Charles is the most famous blind musician of our time; He was awarded 12 Grammy Awards, was inducted into the Rock and Roll, Jazz, Country and Blues Halls of Fame, the Georgia State Hall of Fame, and was included in the Library of Congress. Frank Sinatra called Charles "the only true genius in show business." In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine nominated Ray Charles as number 10 on their "List of Immortals" - the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Stephen Hawking(1942) - famous English theoretical physicist and astrophysicist, author of the theory of primordial black holes and many others. In 1962 he graduated from Oxford University and began studying theoretical physics. At the same time, Hawking began to show signs of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which led to paralysis. After throat surgery in 1985, Stephen Hawking lost his ability to speak. He only has the fingers of his right hand, which he controls his chair and a special computer that speaks for him.
Stephen Hawking is currently the Lucas Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, a position that Isaac Newton held three centuries ago. Despite a serious illness, Hawking leads an active life. In 2007, he flew in zero gravity on a special plane and announced that he intends to make a suborbital flight on a spaceplane in 2009.
Valery Fefelov(1949) - a member of the dissident movement in the USSR, a fighter for the rights of disabled people. Working as an electrician, in 1966 he received an industrial injury - he fell from a power transmission line and broke his spine - after which he remained disabled for the rest of his life, he could only move in a wheelchair. In May 1978, together with Yuri Kiselev (Moscow) and Fayzulla Khusainov (Chistopol, Tatarstan), he created the Initiative Group for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in the USSR. The group called the creation of the All-Union Society of Disabled People its main goal. The activities of the Initiative Group were considered anti-Soviet by the authorities. In May 1982, a criminal case was opened against Valery Fefelov under the article "resistance to the authorities". Threatened with arrest, Fefelov agreed to the KGB's demand to go abroad and in October 1982 left for Germany, where in 1983 he and his family received political asylum. Author of the book "There are no disabled people in the USSR!", Published in Russian, English and Dutch.
Stevie Wonder(1950) is an American musician, singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. Lost his eyesight in infancy. Too much oxygen was supplied to the oxygen box where the child was placed. The result is retinal pigmentary degeneration and blindness. He is called one of the greatest musicians of our time: he won 22 Grammy awards; became one of the musicians who actually defined the popular styles of "black" music - rhythm and blues and soul of the mid-20th century. Wonder's name is immortalized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Composers Hall of Fame in the United States. During his career, he has recorded over 30 albums.
Christopher Reeve(1952-2004) - American theater and film actor, director, screenwriter, public figure. In 1978 he became world famous for his role as Superman in the American film of the same name and its sequels. In 1995, during a horse race, he fell from a horse, received a severe injury and remained completely paralyzed. Since then, he has devoted his life to rehabilitation therapy and, together with his wife, opened a center to train the paralyzed in the skills of independent existence. Despite the injury, Christopher Reeve continued to work in television, cinema and participate in social activities until his last days.
Marley Matlin(1965) is an American actress. She lost her hearing at the age of one and a half, and, despite this, at the age of seven she began to play in the children's theater. At 21, she won an Oscar for her debut film Children of a Lesser God, becoming the youngest Oscar winner in history for Best Actress.
Eric Weichenmeier(1968) - the first climber in the world to reach the summit of Mount Everest while being blind. Eric Weichenmeier lost his sight when he was 13 years old. However, he graduated and later became a high school teacher himself, then a wrestling coach and a world-class athlete. On Weichenmeier's voyage, director Peter Winter directed the TV fiction film Touch the Top of the World. In addition to Everest, Weichenmaier conquered the seven highest mountain peaks in the world, including Kilimanjaro and Elbrus.
Esther Vergeer(1981) - Dutch tennis player. Considered one of the greatest wheelchair tennis players in history. She has been bedridden since the age of nine, when her legs were severed as a result of spinal cord surgery. Esther Vergeer is a multiple winner of Grand Slam tournaments, a seven-time world champion, and a four-time Olympic champion. In Sydney and Athens, she excelled both independently and as a pair. Since January 2003, Vergeer has not suffered a single defeat, winning 240 sets in a row. In 2002 and 2008 she became a laureate of the "Best Sportsman with Disabilities" award, presented by the Laureus World Sports Academy.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources
Let's start with the famous Ludwig van Beethoven... He is a key figure in classical music of the times between classicism and romanticism, one of the most respected composers, conductors and pianists. Having lost his hearing in his prime and at the height of fame, he found the strength to overcome despair, thanks to which we still rejoice in his creations today. The astonishing deafness became not only a life tragedy, but also an invaluable gift: it revealed the composer's incredible inner ear, and many new masterpieces came out from under his pen: strong, courageous, piercing. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which was his last, impressed the audience where he conducted. He gave the world this simple composition, as if hidden in the heart of everyone. The audience was jubilant, but he still stood with his back and was unable to turn around to look at the mood of the public. In 1827, Beethoven passed away. 20 thousand people came to parting. This was the beginning of his immortality.
Deaf people can be great dancers. An example of this Amnon Damty born deaf. The talented dancer and choreographer recalls that when he started dancing, music was heard in his body. Not hearing physically, he heard with his soul. At the age of 10, he saw the Bolshoi Theater show, he was struck by the powerful performance of the dancers. At 15, he joined a unique group of deaf dancers in Israel. Feeling the rhythm of Amnon is helped by the vibration from the speakers, which is transmitted to the legs, as well as eye contact with the dance partner, his wife.In 1990, he was named the best dancer among the deaf by the University of Gallaudet in Washington.
An outstanding personality in the field of cinema is Shoshanna Stern from California. The American actress was born in the fourth generation of deaf people. Together with her brother and sister, Shoshanna went to the California School for the Deaf, where the girl proved that she can fully participate in staged scenes and performances and work in front of the camera. She communicates using American Sign Language and can read lips. The actress starred in many films: "Threat Matrix", "Weeds", "Ambulance", "Detective Rush". She participated in the post-apocalyptic TV series Jericho and also in the comedy by Evan Oppenheimer's Theory of the Author. A beautiful and intelligent girl does not stop at the achieved results, because there are many unconquered heights ahead of her.
The charitable "National Social Fund" with the help of caring people helps to solve the problems of deaf and hard of hearing children in Russia. Our team is doing its best to give these children hope for a bright future. Many have been helped, but there is still a lot of work ahead. We will be glad to everyone who wants to take part in the accomplishment of good deeds.
The Moscow Theater of Nations is working on a unique project "The Touched", which will open on October 13 as part of the Territory international festival and will tell about the life of the deaf-blind. The play is based on stories of real people who will also take the stage, but they are just an excuse for the viewer to think about himself.
Olga Allenova
A short girl with a fair-haired braid approaches me, dancing. She has a good, bright face, she smiles. This is Alena Kapustyan from Orekhovo-Zuevo, she is 16 years old. Mom Julia is holding her hand. Mom comes with Alena to rehearsals and dances with her. When the dancing couple stops a meter away from me, Alena feels with her foot a rope attached to the floor, indicating the direction. She wants to dance further, but her mother opens Alena's hand and gestures under her. This language is called dactyl, finger alphabet, and with its help mom explains to Alena that the dance should be postponed because I am a guest and want to talk to her.
- Tell her what your name is, - suggests Julia. I feel a little panic in the first second: I don't know how to use dactyl! How do I explain myself?
- Write your name in letters on her palm, - prompts Julia.
I write first O, then L. "Olya", - Alena guesses. She pronounces words in a peculiar way, swallowing sounds a little, - so say people who learned to speak, no longer hearing their own speech. "Who are you, Olya?" - asks Alena. I write the name of my profession in her palm. It is enough for me to write four letters, and Alena nods with a smile: "Journalist".
Alena studies at a boarding school for deaf-blind children in Sergiev Posad. This is the most famous school in Russia, in which a person who is deprived of hearing and sight retains the opportunity to learn to read, write, and communicate with the world.
Alena lost her hearing at a year and a half. At the age of six, she lost her sight - retinal detachment began, she underwent emergency surgery, which did not help. Alena is a good student, she has a developed intellect. Recognition of her achievements in her studies was the Russian flag, which Alena carried at the closing of the Paralympic Games in Sochi.
Yulia would like Alena to study in a regular school, but difficulties in communicating with other teenagers do not allow her such luxury - ordinary schoolchildren do not know how to communicate with deaf-blind people, and Alena, being in such a school, will be isolated. “She really needs communication,” says Yulia. “But I don’t know where to go when she finishes school. For deaf-blind people, the road is closed further.” Alena would like to continue her studies and work. It will be hard for her to stay at home - she is already used to an active life. In some magazine, Yulia read that scientists in the West have invented a biometric eye, with the help of which the blind can see the world around them. And now she dreams that the latest technologies will someday appear in Russia, and Alena will be able to see.
“Such people have closed all channels of communication with the world,” says Victoria Avdeeva, coordinator of the Touched Project. “They cannot see or hear him. But they can feel it. By touching them, we can tell them about everything that is happening around. Therefore, the Theater of Nations decided to make such a project and tell the audience about how deaf-blind people live.
The idea was born in June at an economic forum in St. Petersburg. The chairman of the Foundation for the Support of the Deaf-Blind German Gref suggested that the artistic director of the Theater of Nations Yevgeny Mironov make a theatrical project about the life of people deprived of the opportunity to see and hear. Mironov liked the idea, he put together a team and came up with "Touched". The project began as part of the Territory international festival, directed by Ruslan Malikov, playwright Marina Krapivina, artist Yekaterina Dzhagarova and video artist Maria Yastrebova.
“In July, our creative team began to collect information about the deaf-blind,” says Avdeeva. “Even then it became clear that this is a big project, and it is not only about those who cannot see or hear the world around them, but about all of us. We, too, are often blind and deaf. Our eyes and ears are open, but our hearts are closed.
The project was supported by actors Ingeborga Dapkunaite and Yegor Beroev - they play in the play. The unique deaf-blind woman Irina Povolotskaya managed to find, convince and bring into the project her acquaintances, who will also appear on the stage. In total, seven deaf-blind people are participating in the project.
If you are deaf-blind, you have no close people and you have not received a special education to communicate, you will not survive. You don't stand a chance
In August, the first meeting of the project participants and actors took place. “At first, our creative group and the deaf-blind just met at the festival office,” says Avdeeva. “This was the first laboratory when we just tried to feel each other. At the second meeting, volunteers were already present, and we all danced. Irina Povolotskaya taught me how to dance tango! It turned out that deaf-blind people are very fond of dancing, for them it is not just movement, it is self-expression. "
The third laboratory was attended by both volunteers and actors. In the fourth, there was a master class on movement on stage with the participation of Yevgeny Mironov. It was at this meeting that the actors began to plunge into the state of deaf-blind people - they put on earplugs and masks, having lost the ability to hear and see. Then there were three more laboratories. Participants mastered surfaces and space, walking barefoot around the rehearsal hall - the actors, whose eyes and ears were closed, were helped by the deaf-blind, for whom this task was easier. “With each meeting, we saw that fears and wariness dissipated, and we became closer to each other,” says Avdeeva.
Several times the project participants went to the boarding school for deaf-blind children in Sergiev Posad - the heroes of the play Danya and Vladik live there, who for health reasons cannot attend the theater. In this boarding school, the actors not only immersed themselves in the environment - there they understood who needed their project and why. “Have you ever been to this boarding school?” Avdeeva asks. “There are hundreds of swings, and children love to swing on them. They have so few channels of communication with the world, but they use each of them to the fullest. We want them with our project to help. To draw attention to them. To lay the beginning of a new life for them. To give them the opportunity to study, work, rest. "
The idea of the project to the artistic director of the Theater of Nations Yevgeny Mironov (center) was thrown by the chairman of the Foundation for the Support of the Deaf-Blind German Gref
Photo: Press service of the "Territory" festival
A road, a tree, a swing, a sphere, a dance are symbols that unite the project participants. Symbols of peace that ordinary, hearing-seeing people can make available to the deaf-blind. Even music can become available to them. Professor Alexander Suvorov sits on a chair in the rehearsal room and plays the harmonica. He is not young, it is difficult for him to walk without support, but he plays the music that he loves. "What are you playing?" - volunteers ask him. "This is Salute to Moscow," says the professor. Volunteers don't know this kind of music. Because this is his own salute to Moscow.
If you are deaf-blind, you have no close people and you have not received a special education to communicate, you will not survive. You don't stand a chance. Professor Suvorov, deprived of sight and hearing since childhood, got such a chance. In the 1970s, he became a participant in the famous Zagorsk experiment. Then the founder of the boarding school for the deaf-blind in Zagorsk, Professor Alexander Meshcheryakov, together with the Research Institute of Defectology of the USSR Academy of Pedagogical Sciences and the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University. MV Lomonosov Moscow State University conducted a unique experiment that enabled four deaf-blind students to get higher education. Professor Meshcheryakov hoped that, having received an education and the opportunity to communicate with others, the students would create an organization of the deaf-blind and help people with such problems. Four pupils of the Zagorsk orphanage for the deaf-blind were transferred to the psychology department of Moscow State University. At first, Meshcheryakov's laboratory staff sat at lectures next to each deaf-blind student, conveying the teacher's words with dactyl. Then they began to use a tape recorder, the recording from which was deciphered in braille. A teletactor was also used for training, which transmitted the printed text in relief-point alphabet. As a result, teachers were able to communicate with students on their own, conduct seminars and discussions. After six years of study, four certified deaf-blind psychologists left the walls of Moscow State University.
Now Professor Suvorov, Doctor of Psychology, author of the famous book "School of Mutual Humanity", teaches at MSUPE and is a leading researcher at the Laboratory of Psychological and Pedagogical Problems of Continuing Education of Children and Youth with Developmental Disabilities and Disabilities at the Institute for Integrated (Inclusive) Education, MSUPE.
If the Zagorsk experiment had not been closed, thousands of deaf-blind people across the country would have been able to get education and work. Today, in the conditions of total optimization in the field of education, it is difficult to imagine that such an experiment can be reanimated in the form of an educational project. Therefore, 16-year-old Alena Kapustyan, having a high intellect, studies in a correctional school and cannot enter a university, and her mother fearfully thinks about Alena's imminent release from the boarding school and moving to the four walls of the Orekhovo-Zuevskaya apartment.
Professor Suvorov jokes with volunteers and young actors. His high-pitched voice echoes throughout the room - he sets a light, relaxed tone. Yes, he is sick, and it is difficult for him to move, but he never fails to have a cheerful disposition. Victoria Avdeeva shakes his hand - he recognizes her instantly by this handshake: "This is Vika! Vika is an emotion." And again he starts the melody on the harmonica. He does not hear music, but it sounds in his head.
Professor Suvorov in the project "Touched" is played by actor Yegor Beroev. Both the professor and the actor will take the stage together, and during the performance they will even improvise. Beroev is familiar with special people, he is the founder of the "I am" foundation, which helps children with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other disabilities. At the opening of the Paralympic Games in Sochi, he carried the same Russian flag with which Alena Kapustyan closed the Games. But they only met here, on the project. "These people are amazing," says Beroev. "They are open, they are free, next to them you become the same."
The parquet floor of the rehearsal room is cut by the straight lines of thick ropes. Fragile Alena easily slides along the rope route. Spectacular Irina Povolotskaya, in sneakers, with short silver-violet hair, dancing, moves towards her. The ropes mark the routes of deaf-blind and sighted people who will walk on the stage without crossing each other, as is often the case in ordinary life. But at some point, the ropes on the stage will be attached differently, the routes will change, the lines will intersect. How Irina and Damir once crossed, a happy couple. Damir - Irina's eyes and ears, always near. This is her connection with the world, her chance to live life to the fullest. Irina lost her hearing later than the rest of the project participants. She can speak, she is socialized, self-confident. She has her own website, she is texting with friends on Facebook. The project participants call her "the woman-space". In addition to bright colors and plastics, she has some kind of powerful energy that allows her to live in full force. But Irina is so alone. The tragedy of most deaf-blind people is that they do not know how to speak, communicate, end up in homes for the disabled and PNI, withdraw into themselves, fall into depression early and die.
We cannot see and hear the world. But we can perceive space. We can feel. The theater allows our children to use all their possibilities
- This is a project about us, about the deaf-blind, - Irina's voice sounds high, with a beautiful unfamiliar accent, similar to a foreign one. - We cannot see and hear the world. But we can perceive space. We can feel. The theater allows our children to use all their possibilities. The theater helps them to relax and believe in the world. I see how the guys open up.
For many years Irina has been communicating with deaf-blind people in the creative association "Krug". The "circle" for them is going out into the light. They can chat, drink tea, dance. But Irina says that the world is much wider than the society of the deaf-blind. And it can be opened to the deaf-blind. Therefore, she accepted the invitation of the project and brought her friends to it.
“We are in the ghetto, although I do not like this word,” she explains. “And very few people manage to escape from this ghetto. The theater helps us. I hope that no one will return to the four walls from here.
Irina and Alena continue their movement along the rope routes. Professor Suvorov plays the harmonica, sometimes he stops and starts talking about something in a high chest voice. Next to him, one of the actors or volunteers immediately sits down, listens, supports the conversation with dactyl speech. Everyone here learned to use dactyl. Project participants are constantly hugging. They smile. They bring each other tea and sandwiches. In this small room, the world is as it should be. There are no stereotypes that are actively created by both society and the state. Each project participant is free.
- Do you understand why they have to live next to us? - smiles Victoria Avdeeva. - You see that each of them is a galaxy? And how boring we live, deprived of the opportunity to see other worlds and galaxies!
These words could be the finale of the "Touched" project. But there is no ending. The Territory festival project is just beginning to talk about the life of special people and each of us in the world, where all routes once intersect. It is no longer possible to end this conversation.
On October 13, at the Theater of Nations, a sketch of the play will be shown - an interactive open laboratory of feelings, in which the project participants will improvise, and the audience will feel themselves in the role of Irina, Professor Suvorov and Alena.
The premiere of the play will take place only in March. But even then there will be no ending. The "touched" are just beginning to live.
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