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[San Antonio Light, Sunday, Dec. 4, 1988]

OSCAR GARZA

Casas promotes Very Special Arts

When you look at Mel Casas, things aren't what they seem to be.
The acclaimed artist/educator walks with a cane and the presence of the walking stick, coupled with the scars on his face, would seem to explain why he is involved with Very Special Arts - the organization dedicated to promoting and providing opportunities and education in the arts for persons with physical, mental and emotional disabilities.  
"I guess in a sense appearances can be deceiving," Casas says.  "The cane is actually an affection."
Casas is concerned with style, not in a forced manner, but quite naturally - the mark of true style.  His use of a walking stick, of which he has quite a collection, is not something most people affect gracefully.
But affectation or not, Casas' canes might be more than a style statement.
"A fraction of a second determines whether or not you survive an accident with a disability," he says.  
For Casas, that fraction of a second happened in the Korean War when as a young soldier he stepped on a mine and found himself deaf, blind and partially paralyzed.  He recovered, miraculously, and returned to his native El Paso where he began his art career.
So the cane really isn't necessary, but the scars remain - along with the thoughts of what might have been.  

"The whole VSA effort is designed to increase awareness." 
  
"Since I was so lucky - it was serendipity really - I feel very attuned for those who have been less fortunate."
Casas shows his gratitude by chairing the local Very Special Arts group, which is affiliated with the national organization founded by Jean Kennedy Smith in 1974.
"I'm really a figurehead," Casas says. "When you talk about Very Special Arts to me, you really talk about Judy Babbitt.  She does all the work."
Babbitt is the head of the city's Handicapped Access office and was instrumental in starting the local VSA chapter.  She asked Casas to get  involved with the group, having assumed that his cane was a functional item.
"That was so funny," says Babbitt of her false assumption.  "I had always liked Mel a lot and when we started VSA, I thought he'd be such a great role model."
Casas thinks Babbitt is a great role model.  A polio victim, Babbitt goes about every task with an energy that Casas envies.  "Every time I see her I look to see if she's plugged into an electric outlet getting recharged," he says.
Tonight Babbitt will most likely be scurrying about the Saks Wing at North Star Mall, where the local VSA group is launching its celebration Very Special Arts Month.
The event will feature an exhibit of works by local disabled artists Margaret Putnam, Susie Olson and Sarah Martinez, and performances by the Deaf Choir and concert pianist Linda Camann.
"Linda is a real good example of what we're trying to do with VSA," says Babbitt of the pianist who also is a polio victim. "We want to give exposure to disabled people who have some artistic ability.
"She's a concert pianist who surfaced here when we were doing a renovation of the Cockrell Theater, trying to make it more welcoming to disabled people.  One of her concerns was how to get disabled performers on the stage.  We pulled her in almost as an adviser. When we were putting together the program for the celebration, I thought of her immediately."
Babbitt's job involves finding these artists, as well as sensitizing non-disabled people to the world of the handicapped.  To that end she is hoping to bring to town "Designs for Independent Living," an exhibition from New York's Museum of Modern Art that features unique designs of everything from wheelchairs to phone amplifiers.
The whole VSA effort is designed to increase awareness, not elicit sympathy.  "It's art with a heart," says Casas.  "Not mushy, but caring."
Oscar Garza is the arts editor for The Light.