Unsung Hero: Alicia Hopkins defies odds, advocates for those with disabilities

When Alicia Hopkins entered her freshman year at Malone College, she was already defying the odds.

She grew up in a poor rural community in Huron County. She had a heart defect that, at best, was a consideration in all she did. She also had some learning disabilities, which led to a doctor once calling her "mentally retarded."

Still, encouraged by a dear friend to ignore labels, Hopkins applied for scholarships and held on tight to her dreams of becoming a reporter, maybe writing for the New York Times some day.

"But my life took a plot twist," Hopkins said.

She had her first stroke at age 20, with three more to come. By the time she was 27, she was in a wheelchair, diagnosed with a nervous system disorder called dysautonomia, as well as common variable immune deficiency. She gets pneumonia three to four times a year.

Still, Hopkins finished her bachelor's degree in journalism and even put some time in toward a master's degree. But during stays at hospitals and nursing facilities, she realized her goals had to evolve.

"For a long time, I struggled with 'Is there a purpose to my life?' " Hopkins said. "It's been a very long journey. ... It took me time to realize one dream had to die before anything else could be born."

Hopkins now lives in Akron, where the 34-year-old spends each day that her health allows advocating for people with disabilities. For a time, she administered a Facebook page that collected information on resources around the country.

"When my health started to decline, I made it my mission to just keep looking for information and helping people," she said. "Sometimes I did it while I was lying flat on my back."

Then, a couple of years ago, after taking art therapy for autism, she became inspired by the way art "helps people heal. It helps people get outside themselves," she said.

It wasn't a big leap for her. When she was 8 years old, her mother started giving her J.C. Penney catalogs for use in creating collages. Now a mixed media artist, Hopkins even has one of her pieces -- which used a wheelchair wheel as the canvas -- on display at Akron City Hall.

To help other people with disabilities explore their artistic talents, Hopkins enlisted the help of a couple of friends to organize Art Speaks, All Abilities Art Expo.

Unlike other area showcases that are specific to artists with mental illnesses or developmental disabilities, Art Speaks welcomes participants with any disability. Hopkins said they tried to leave no one out. Programs feature braille. Sign language interpreters are made available.

More than 500 people attended the first event in Akron, and it's been repeated twice yearly since. Last spring's show was in Cuyahoga Falls; a November show was held in Cleveland.

Hopkins also started a program she calls Art Speaks Boxes. She collects art supplies for people with disabilities, and looks for able-bodied volunteers who can help deliver the gifts. In the first six months of the program, 47 boxes of art supplies were taken to area homes.

"People with disabilities live on limited income and they can't always afford art supplies," she said. "People have to choose between paying rent and utilities or buying markers."

In September, for her birthday, Hopkins bought and gave away art supplies she had collected throughout the year. She did it at an "art swap" she hosted where artists could share supplies they weren't using.

"It's just another way of trying to put art supplies in people's hands," she said.

Hopkins lives on a limited income herself. Her medical issues prevent her from traditional employment, but she said she would love for organizations, schools and companies to hire her as a consultant to ensure their events are fully accessible.

"It's one thing to get people in the door, but it's another to make sure there's access to the bathrooms, or be able to maneuver around a room or make sure things are at wheelchair height," she said.

She's writing a book titled "Audacity to Speak," which said said is "about people in my life telling me I couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't because of my circumstances."

"I don't have family support like most people do," she said. "I have my friends, the arts community, church.

"But at the end of the day, if i can breathe and move my hands, I'm alive and I can still give back to my community," she said.

"You don't have to have a lot of money to make an impact on the world," she added. "We can spread kindness wherever we are. It doesn't take much to be kind."

Hopkins was nominated for the Akron Beacon Journal's Unsung Heroes recognition by Laura Dolan, a writing instructor at Kent State Stark and the Stow mother of an autistic son who met Hopkins in September.

Dolan had taken her son to an open house at the Center for Applied Drama & Autism in Akron, and found Hopkins doing her birthday art swap. They struck up a conversation.

"She has such a can-do attitude," Dolan said. "She gets things done. She had disabilities that force her to be in a wheelchair and it just doesn't seem to stop her."

Dolan was moved by what Hopkins has been doing for the art community that she traveled to the Art Speaks expo in Cleveland. She said the event was "fabulous" and gave her the opportunity to interact with several artists, including one woman who said art therapy enabled her to even eliminate a couple of mental health drugs she had been taken.

Meanwhile, Hopkins continues to inspire Dolan in ways that help her see a limitless future for her own son.

"It just shows you that despite a disability, you can achieve really whatever you set your mind to. I mean, this woman does whatever the hell she wants to. She doesn't let anything get in her way," Dolan said.

For more information on Art Speaks events and activities, visit Hopkins' Facebook page "Art Speaks Ohio." Anyone interested in donating art supplies or volunteering to deliver them can contact Hopkins at artspeaksohio@aol.com.

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