Coming Alive!

I was distributing Dancing Hands hand taps to the residents as I walked around the table where we would be tapping.  I was chatting with them and encouraging each one to pick up and experiment with the unusual looking percussion instrument.   I looked up and a woman was rolling up to the table in a wheelchair.  “Hi,” I said, expecting her eyes to meet mine.  “She’s blind,” one woman said.  Someone whispered in my ear.  “She will probably just listen.  She usually doesn’t participate in activities.”

We started practicing different techniques and then I began “tap chatting” with them, one at a time.  “Hi, my name is Laurie”, I said, tapping my taps to the syllables in my sentence.  “What is your name?”  “My name is Sue”, I heard someone say confidently , and tapping, too.  It was the blind woman.  I decided in that moment to focus in on her while the others in the group listened.  We had a lively interaction.  Everyone had a turn after that.  We then took turns typing patterns to “Singin’ in the Rain” by Gene Kelly.  Sue came alive.  She didn’t just tap.  She sang.  She sang very loud.

After the workshop, one of the helpers came to me and said, “This is a breakthrough.  Sue usually doesn’t talk!”

As I watched each person file out of the room, and Sue, too….I smiled.