lapping up lapper

the spidering pre-proposal dissertation Lost episode of my life is on...and from the stream-of-consciousness wikipediaing of my connective tissue interests in birth defects, dangerous drugs, and the twin cover-ups of risk (thalidomide, anyone?) and then the risked (i.e. the disabled), i came across this beautiful self-portrait of allison lapper, a brit with phocomelia and one hell of a sense of humour. she is not actually a thalidomide baby (she had a congenital disorder). but like a number of thalidomide rock stars (tony melendez, thomas quastroff), she is swimming against the disturbing undercurrent of phocophobia lurking in our memories of health agency failure and contemporary pharmaceutical risk management programs. the deformed, PERFORMING. check her out: allisonlapper.com