The scariest part of Me Before You is its realism (NOT!!!)

I might get my ass kicked on this one, but you can’t always go with grain. Wifey and I saw this at the dollar movie, maybe that was best so I did not seem like a trader crossing the protest line in our city. I have heard everything about this movie from it is pro-murder to it being a fetish film.

No one gave it the opportunity to be a love story, maybe I am just naïve and don’t see the horror plot in the film to kill anyone with a disability. Instead I saw a woman try to become friends with a guy that was pissed off at the world from becoming disabled. How that relationship grew into something more the longer they spent time together.

You to admit it was funny when he said I might go My Left Foot on this one, I’m sure 99% of people had no idea what that referenced. We all feel like that when we first meet new people. For example, when people keep saying what to me. I feel like pulling out my inner Jules from Pulp Fiction, Do you speak English…

I went into this movie with open mind, maybe that is the default as an Artist, to look at things as a work of art and see it as a tool to create conversations.

The Artist's Mind

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Sept. 25
First, I thought It meant to be an Artist when you were having successful run in a New York gallery. I realized that I was just a painter that had some meaning, but I was producing paintings to keep the interest in my work. Then I realized I wanted to be more than a painter, so I went for my Master of Art, so I could research my work in different mediums. In order to see if I could carry my message through the many dialects in art. In recent years, people might have questioned my dedication to my art since my production level is way down. Just because, I do not produce art, does not mean it is out of my soul and mind. In fact, my mind is a flipping tornado of art. Between finding the right subject that can hold my passion and desiring to do more writing, it gets over whelming when finding time for each. I realized that it is time to write about the pieces that I have done, to give more insight of my work and maybe find out what direction I want to go in.
Gallery: http://www.kinggimpstudio.com

April 29,
What makes art look primitive: is it the skill of the Artist, or the medium? A lot of work by Artist with Disabilities may look primitive, I think this has a lot to do with the mediums that are use and this makes the art look more crafty. There are some "masters" of art that have primitive looking piece, but are just as valued as the rest of their collection. Maybe this is art is it's purest form?

Matisse, Clementina Rivera
April 28,
The more I look at Christy Brown’s work, think he may have been influenced by Cubism. This is really apparent in the painting titled Symbols. This self portrait of Brown reminds me a lot of a self portrait of Picasso in a stripped shirt.

April 25,
To me this is more imminence than a a blank canvas. Although I have working digitally for about three years, I keep forgetting it is up to more to filter out. The options the do not work with as with any other medium. Of course I my favorite settings and brushes, I learned real quick how important it is to saves them as exported files. When you update software, it resets your presets and is not fun in the middle of projects.

Feb. 27, 2017

I have been messing around with some new idea for my digital work, but really this start is about taking time figure how to make the software work for me. This is how any medium should be approached by artists, because the medium is your tool.

I had been working for a day, or two and this happened. Most likely, I hit alt, shift command Z, or something crazy like that and did not know it. The problem is, if you do not know how something was done, you do not know how to undo it. This did happen once before and my assistant Allison just changed the paint brush mode. This time that did not solve the issue, I am thinking I can just re-install Photoshop. Then I would have redo everything to my liking.
Youtube is the new home college, I found that it would be better to delete the preference file. If that did not fix the problem you can put the file back. It turns out to be an easy fix and now I know what to do the next time the same thing happens.

Since I am taking time to explore the software, why not take time to figure out the brush presets so I can work more efficient and save me some time. Although it has endless options, I will still have my favorite brushes with their setting. Just as having your favorite brush, or roller for printing. I also was reminder that you can change the brush thumbnails sizes, which gives me a bigger target to hit when I change brushes.
Although I am working with technology, it cannot do the work for me and should be treat as any other medium. Different medium can add a new dimension to my work, but I need to make it speak my language.
November, 12 2016
As always the change of season brings out the art in me. Although I have been messing around with this digital stuff for a year now, I am still looking for the right "brushes" and "tools" for me, still trying to pickup the digital dialect. Is not bad working at home and not having to worry about Daisy eating something toxic. We put a nice arm chair by my desk, so she could sleep and crack her one eye open to check on me.

Potato, Potatoe,No It Is what Works for Me!

Da!, It only took me three to figure out that JJ from Speechless does not uses an AAC Device. Rather it’s an old school communication board with a light pointer, so that is why people repeat what he has to say.  Hey it works for me, would people still get his humor/personality if it were a computer voice?  I wonder how long that debate went, I’m sure it was more interesting then the debates that have been on TV recently.

In contrast is the new Jaguar commercial with Stephen Hawking that ends with an AAC Device laugh.  When you compare the two ways of relating personality, which one is more effective and really it comes down to personal preference.

Once again I state there is no right, or wrong on this. For some people the independence is more important then depending on a middle person. Then there are hippies as me that wants an interpreter to get my thoughts across that has my twists.

I just viewed the trailer ABC's new comedy Speechless

I just viewed the trailer ABC's new comedy Speechless, for me it hit all of the cords that I am looking for. I laugh the whole trailer, but when the brother is speaking up about wanting more mom time, I could relate very much to this. Until now no body really thought about the impact of having a child with a disability on the other children. In fact it made me tear up thinking about my own family since so much of my Mom’s time was focous on me, what did that do to my siblings?

I was laughing and being “entertained”, but at the end of each joke, I had to stop and think what was just presented to me. For example, the accessibled ramp at JJ’s new school. Most people would have a conniption fit if they had to smell trash each time they went in and out of a building, but some how it’s acceptable for the disabled since its accessibled.

I have come to the hypothesis that when disabilities are present in any media. It is not there to represent people with disability as a group, but to challenge the way people think about that situation. When it comes down to it any form of entertainment, it is art and good art is there to evoke one’s emotions and thoughts. My hope is that Speechless can stay on this path and I will be rolling right along with JJ and his family.

Let's Try This One

Physically Disabled. Menaced by Evil. Up for a Fight

A Journey to Self-Directed Services

So I finally decided to switch from the Community Pathways Waiver to the Self-Directed Services. I thought about doing this before when it was the New Directions Waiver, but something in my gut told me not to. At that time there were too many unknowns and it seemed a high percentage of the budget still went to admin. stuff. Some people are surprise, I waited this long to make this change witch only makes since given that I am so independent.

Let me fall back to January to when I started this process, I had a meeting of the minds with my Coordinator from Service Coordination and a couple other people from my inner circle.  At that meeting it was decided this was right course to take, from there my Service Coordinator filed papers with DDA to request to transfer waivers.

I received my approval letter from DDA within 5 weeks; from there I went to information meeting on Self-Directed Services in February. At this meeting I learned that I would be acting as Incorporation, but also need a Support Broker and a FMA. The Support Broker helps you carry out your plan and keeps track of the budget. Where the FMA acts as the bank, they hold the money and cut the checks. The Support Broker is a volunteer, or paid position, but the FMA gets their cut right off the top of one’s budget.

In six months we had two meetings with my team and really you only have six to complete the transfer process from when I received the approval letter. In reality this is not reasonable, my friend Iyana agreed to be my Support Broker. In order for Ayana to be my Broker, she has to attend training and get a certification. This is only offered ever few months.  I also had the idea of picking a Support Broker off the list. From my emails I either got no response, or they were to busy too help me.

This brings us to current day, Ayana has been at the two days training. So far we learned after we submit my Individual Plan, DDA has 6 to 8 weeks to review it and if we have submit changes they have another 4 to 6 to review that too. So the goes my six months timeline, will I need to reapply to transfer waivers?

Also they said every new client to the Self-Direct Service gets start money to make modifications to there home, or buy stuff to be more comfortable. This sounds too good to be true, I am there is a catch.

December 27

OMG, signed my life away again to the state of Maryland in order to submit my plan for the Self-Directed Waiver. I must of signed 15 things just to submit this first draft to DDA and hope it gets approved the first time around.

I think it is interesting that you can hire a family member to be either the Support Broker, or your stuff. I feel as this is a step forward for me and Wifey, so we can be more open about our marriage. 

Kind of ironic that other services are not catching up on this, but it has to start some ware.
Just as I figured there was a big catch in order to be able to use the start up money. This can only be tapped into for a first time transition from your family home, or hospital/institution and I am way past that. Of course I could keep appealing it, but it would hold up the whole process and to me it just is not worth it.

 

May 4, 2017

I met with FM, I went with The Arc of Central Chesapeake Region. we were handed a big binder of documents and applications. There was a lot of forms for me and my staff to fill out.  Just because I start my waiver with the FM does not mean my staff is hired automatically and can start billing that day. So there is a gap of when your staff can get paid and there is no retroactive pay. One just has to hope they have a dedicated team as I do.  I turned in the applications on Monday, today Thursday and we are still waiting to hear back of the applications have been processed.

May 5, 2017

All is good, I just received the all clear from my FM that my staff can start their billing.  It only took two days to process the applications and background checks.

July 29, 2017

I have been on the Self-Directed Waiver now for about two months and surprisingly l got a statement that lets me know the status of my budget. When I was on the tradition waiver, the only time I heard about my budget was when I was using it up too fast. Even when I had my yearly IP meetings, nobody  offered to let me know if my budge even changed, or not

November 7, 2017

To be continued…

Bring Oscar Winner King Gimp to Your School, or Community For An Interactive Experience

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Some people know me as Dan Keplinger, others as King Gimp, but they both stand for loyalty, honesty and a fighting spirit. I was born with Cerebral Palsy on January 19, 1973. My formal education started when I entered early intervention at eighteen months of age and continued in special education until I was mainstreamed at the age of sixteen. It was then that I discovered my artistic talent. The finale to my formal education was obtaining my MFA at the age of thirty-five.
My life was the subject of the 2000 Oscar Award winning documentary 'King Gimp'. I was then featured in a Cingular commercial during the 2001 Super Bowl. I currently travel nationally and internationally with my wife as an artist and speaker to inspire everyone to find their passion in life. Recently those travels included a live painting demonstration at a DC Metro Theater as well as a panel at the United Nations. In addition, I've completed an Artist Residency to produce prints.
As a guest lecturer or speaker, I generally show one of the films about my life, talk about my experiences, and answer questions from the audience. Given a longer day, I also bring the magic of creating a drawing while others watch. Once you book a drawing event, the piece is yours to display or use as a fundraiser.

I hope you will be interested in sharing the rich diversity of my life with your staff, clients, and their families. Following are links to more information on King Gimp, as well as to some quotes about Dan.

I look forward to hearing from you and the possibility of sharing the extraordinary world of my journey. References are made available upon request.
Sincerely,
Dan Keplinger, Artist

--Adopting To 2020--

Message is in The Mark

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A live drawing demonstration with me for 2-3 hours in a intimate setting. During this time I will take question from viewers. Before talking is a viewing of the 2001 Super Bowl commercial the feature me at my art work.(1 Min.) Total presentation time 2-3 hours.

This is what took place during a recent visit to an elementary school, before Wifey and I arrived all of the students viewed the commercial. They split the school into two session, that was held in the lunch  room. This was done so that everyone could sit in a circle as I worked on a drawing. The students were engaged the whole time and really asked good questions. The best question was, when did I know my disability was an ability? I said my mom always show me that I had the ability to do anything, she always let me try anything at least once. Although, this event was about disability awareness the bigger issue is acceptance of all people no matter what!

Bring me A.K.A. ‪#‎kinggimp‬ to your school, college, organization‬, or community to share his story and art‬ and I will donate the drawing‬ to your place, or to use as a fund raiser. For more information about book your event with the King and his Wifey. For more about King Gimp Studio please go to www.kinggimpstudio.com!-

Book Dan Now and Become Inspired by a King.
Email Dan to Schedule a Date and time. dank@kinggimp.com
Stipend and Travel Expenses Apply
To Learn More About Dan, Visit These Sites:
www.kinggimp.com
www.dankkinggimp.com

Power From Passion

Screen the movie King of Arts and participate in an interactive question and answer ceremony about the movie, Dan’s personal life, and Dan’s career as a successful fine artist. Live and learn like a King.

Anyone can find their passion and improve the world around them.  During my presentation I show King of Arts that is a third film in the series. This focus on me as an artist, (10 Min.)  Total presentation time 60 minutes. (The King of Arts: Explore the richness of a virtual gallery of Dan’s paintings and hear his commentary on being a professional artist.)

My Work

Paintings                  Drawings                 Digital Work

For Booking Information, Please Contact: 

Email: dank@kinggimp.com
FaceBook: http://www.kinggimpstudio.com

When The King Speaks, Crowds Become Inspired

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Dan Keplinger, subject and writer of the Academy Award® winning documentary King Gimp, is going on tour and he is ready to speak at your business. Listen to Dan’s story firsthand. Learn how the arts, and the world as we know it, has inherent obstacles that can be overachieved with perseverance, patience, determination and a winning, fighting spirit.

Screen the movie King Gimp and participate in an interactive question and answer ceremony about the movie, Dan’s personal life, and Dan’s career as a successful fine artist. Live and learn like a King.


About Dan “King Gimp” Keplinger
Known throughout the world as “King Gimp”, Dan is an artist who overcomes a daily battle with Cerebral Palsy to live a “normal” life. Dan took the name Gimp, which means “fighting, sprinted individual” as name to represent himself from an early age. He is an accomplished master painter, award winning fine artist, and an inspiration to children and adults alike.

A Note of Thanks

From King Gimp

Hi, I’m Dan Keplinger.
You might know me from the Academy Award winning documentary King Gimp.

Since the movie’s success, I have been touring the world to motivate audiences through speaking engagements.

My speaking is motivational, spontaneous and off-the cuff. The central theme is based on my life’s experiences in breaking stereotypes, overcoming obstacles and surprising the world.

The Silver lining in my speaking focuses on what people can accomplish-regardless of their personal challenges. I encourage audiences to think beyond the boundaries that society has forced upon them.

Through speaking, I have been able to tell audiences that success is about finding placement in life through independence, education and breaking barriers while molding your passions.

A common theme that arises at my speaking engagements is a shared belief amongst the crowd that “If Dan can do it... so can I.” These reactions are very personal and touching. As much as I have helped the audiences grow, they have helped me grow. Through their reactions, I have learn that my passion is brought forth as a speaker. While I have helped the crowd find inspiration, They have helped bring my thoughts out of isolation.

For helping me achieve this pinnacle in my life. I would like to say THANK YOU to all of the groups that have invited me to speak for them since 1999. I would also like to encourage all of those who experience any life challenge to continue staying positive and never give up.

The World Is Yours.

Sincerely,
Dan Keplinger aka King Gimp

--Adapting To 2020--