Guest Speaker: Thriving Through & Beyond Trauma
March 15, 2012Helen Hayes Hospital is pleased to announce that it will host a presentation, “Thriving Through and Beyond Trauma,” by the noted speaker Gary Karp on Wednesday April 4, 2012 from 5:30- 7:00pm. The event is free and open to the public and will take place in the Auditorium at the physical rehabilitation hospital in West Haverstraw.
Gary Karp is an internationally recognized public speaker, corporate trainer, facilitator, author and editor. He has been living – fully – with a T12 spinal cord injury since 1973 when he was injured in a fall from a tree at the age of eighteen.
Since his injury, Gary has earned a graduate degree in architecture, worked for eleven years in the presentation graphics industry as a designer and production manager, then began providing ergonomics training and consultation services to companies in the San Francisco Bay Area. The publication of his first book in 1999 set him on his current path of communicating what he calls the “Modern Disability” story. For his unique and extensive contributions to disability awareness, in 2007 Gary was inducted into the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame as a disability educator.
He is the author of two books: “Life On Wheels: The A to Z Guide to Living Fully with Mobility Issues,” and “Disability & the Art of Kissing.” They give the reader an authentic, richly human sense of the disability experience. Many have called them definitive guides.
Gary’s presentation will offer up insights and lessons on the nature of how we cope with trauma, the cultural assumptions that influence our view of disability (and our belief in our ability to adapt), the radical changes in mobility and public access since his injury, intimacy and relationship, the key role rehabilitation plays in recovery, and the deep, innate drive to live our possibilities that we don’t give up easily – even in the face of sudden, substantial change.
Gary’s passion for living – and his desire to help all people reach for their potential – will come out with every word. He is a leading voice in the disability movement, drawing from personal experience as a wheelchair user, through which he has learned much about the innate capacity in us all to survive and reach for our potential. Anyone seeing him speak can also count on a dazzling display of juggling!
This event is hosted by the Helen Hayes Hospital Spinal Cord Injury Support Group, with thanks to Gary’s sponsorship from the Christopher & Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center and TiLite Wheelchairs. For additional information, call 845-786-4950.
