2006 - Vol. 3, Issue 2

Paul Kahn, nonfiction editor for Breath & Shadow, describes himself as a man with multiple identities; besides being a person with a disability he also is a son, a husband, an American Jew, a Caucasian male, and a writer. When you spend some time talking to Paul, you realize he's all that and more.

Married for almost 17 years, Paul and his wife Ruth live in Newton, Massachusetts, an attractive suburb of Boston. They share their domicile with their shorthaired, black cat Cairo who Paul says "lets us live with him" and whose grace gives him "endless delight."

Paul first published a prose poem in Breath & Shadow before succumbing to Sharon's charm and becoming a nonfiction and theater editor. In his own work, he writes in many genres, including plays, poetry, and essays. Without a specific style, Paul strives for "clarity, down to earth language, and vividness" in his poetry. He dreams that one day Breath & Shadow will "have the most wonderful writing in the world, so the art of people with disabilities [will] get recognized as a significant contribution to our culture."

On a professional level, Paul serves as the editor of Opening Stages, a newsletter published by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and intended primarily for a readership of people with disabilities who are pursuing careers in the performing arts and related fields. He volunteers on the access boards of Wheelock Family Theatre and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, as well as the board of No Limits Media, which promotes the full participation of people with disabilities in the community through the creation, support, and dissemination of media programs and information products.

Paul and I enjoyed a lively discussion of our disabilities and how they influences who we are. Paul told me his disability, centronuclear myopathy, a congenital neuromuscular disability, is "an important part" of his identity; it shapes his "empathy for minorities of all kinds, the value I place on diversity, my sense of social justice, and my outsider's perspective." His disability also influences what he writes about, "which is loss, the longing to hold onto beauty and love, and the redemptive power of art."

Diagnosed as a young child, Paul's diagnoses have changed a few times over the years, and he told me he has "outlived several." His disability is progressive, "So that's been an ominous cloud over my life. But it teaches one to live for today." Paul reflects: "We are all aware of the condescending stereotypes about disability, and some of my life has been devoted to contradicting those stereotypes — proving that I was capable and lovable. My wife has helped greatly with the latter. As F. Scott Fitzgerald said, 'Living well is the best revenge.'"

When I asked Paul what he felt was the most important disability issue, he picked a favorite of mine, independent living. He explained, "Independent living through access to community–based self–directed care is of particular importance to me. I think it's reprehensible that the government spends so much more money keeping people in institutions, instead of supporting them in the community. I also think it's a shame that you have to be poor in order to get vital services like health care and attendant care from the government. The conservatives running this country care more about killing people than helping them live well."

Paul left me with the impression of someone whose life has been influenced by his disability but also as someone who is not limited by that disability — in short, a man who is living well.