Raw Beauty Project Health


In Sara Jane Parsons’ portrait of me, my pregnant stomach is glowing. My hair is blowing in the wind. It is the first time I’ve been painted by another disabled woman, and it’s meaningful. The portrait is featured alongside 24 others in Raw Beauty Project Health’s UnstopABLE virtual exhibit that showcases women with disabilities who are unstoppable in their lives, yet are stopped from accessing basic health care.

Raw Beauty Project Health is a spinoff of the Raw Beauty Project — a photography exhibit created by Dr. Susan Solman and Wendy Crawford that debuted in 2014 and challenges perceptions of beauty and disability. It received worldwide attention, and the photographs were featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, TODAY.com, HuffPost, and Elle.com.

Like the Raw Beauty Project, Raw Beauty Project Health is personal for Solman and Crawford. Solman, a clinical pharmacist, podiatric physician and professor at Florida International University’s Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, became a paraplegic at the age of 39. Crawford, a former model, TedX speaker and founder of mobileWOMEN.org, has been a quadriplegic for over 38 years.

“It is the first time I’ve been painted by another disabled woman, and it’s meaningful.”

Their disabilities have given them a first-row seat to the rampant discrimination disabled people face when it comes to health care. Solman has been turned away from doctors’ offices and hospitals for important medical tests due to lack of accessible equipment. Crawford relates how her doctor looked at her like she was crazy and suggested she get a hysterectomy when she brought up having a child in her early twenties.

“There are known and statistically significant health care disparities that exist for patients with physical disabilities,” says Solman. “We are less likely to get physical exams, less likely to get weighed, less likely to get gynecological exams, less likely to get prostate exams and are less likely to get diagnosed with cancer.”
Solman explains the reasons are twofold. “Studies show that more than 90% of medical facilities lack accessible equipment. And medical professionals lack training when it comes to working with people with disabilities.”

man in powerchair painting a picture of a woman in a wheelchair with dog
Al Kittel paints Kara Ayers from her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “It is assumed that our lives have less value so there’s less interest or urgency to medically treat us,” says Ayers.

To get Raw Beauty Project Health off the ground, Solman and Crawford asked women with disabilities across the country to share their experiences. “It’s hard to connect when you just hear a statistic or hear something on the news, but by telling stories and through the arts, it creates a way for people to understand. It can be a powerful, transformative educational tool,” says Crawford.

The responses painted a stark picture.

Tammy Jones, the National Vice President for Paralyzed Veterans of America, frantically searched for weeks to find an accessible mammogram machine after she was told she might have breast cancer. Kim Belliston, the co-chair of Disability:In Utah — an organization that promotes inclusion in the workforce — felt demoralized when a gynecologist suggesting they do her Pap smear on the floor because they didn’t have an accessible table.

I had recently been being prescribed the wrong dosage of a blood thinner. Because the scale in my doctor’s office isn’t wheelchair accessible, I guessed my weight. I was off by more than 10 pounds and received a lower amount of the medication than I needed. I got a blood clot and needed surgery.

Rendering Us UnstopABLE

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, coordinating photo shoots with the 25 women selected for the project proved too complicated. Solman and Crawford pivoted and asked artists with disabilities to do artistic renderings.

Painting of head of a woman wearing red headwrap with leaves and music symbols in background that reads: "To get weighed, I go the Air and Space Museum, where there are platforms to weight yourself on different planets. I use the "Earth" scale!" Regina Blye
Artist: Kemi Yemi-Ese

I was paired with Parsons, who began mouth painting in 1995 as a creative outlet after becoming a quadriplegic. “Painting makes me happy,” she says. “It’s sort of like moving meditation. It’s nice to be super focused on something. I’m constantly problem solving and figuring something out. So, it’s an active process.”

Parsons is a member of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Worldwide and says working on my portrait, which she based on a photo I had taken when I was pregnant with my son, was the first time she’s painted another woman with a disability besides herself. “It’s an honor to be asked to do it — to do a painting that is towards a cause, that is a piece of advocacy.”

Painting of a woman with long dark hair laughing that reads: "I had to bring my male cousin to the gynecologist to lift me onto the inaccessible exam table. There wasn't any medical staff there willing to assist me. This experience was demeaning." Jennifer Kumiyama
Artist: Brandon Athey

Solman and Crawford are using Raw Beauty Project Health as an educational tool they can present to companies and schools to promote inclusivity and change. They also hope it empowers people with disabilities. “We’re used to knowing that there should be wheelchair accessible parking spots. We’re used to knowing that there should be a wheelchair accessible bathroom. But no one talks about how there should be accessible scales and exam tables,” says Solman. “Health care is the industry that is the least accessible and where the ADA laws are the least enforced.”

Parsons’ portrait of me hangs in my house. I treasure it. Being disabled is not always sparkles and roses, and it reminds me that I am not alone. It motivates me to keep up the good fight and to keep pushing forward.

Sarah Jane Parsons paints Sherer’s portrait.

To learn more about Raw Beauty Project Health and to see the UnstopABLE virtual exhibit visit rawbeautyprojecthealth.com


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