“Identity” takes on a different meaning from person to person. Wisconsin Union Directorate welcomed renowned writer, lecturer and activist Andrew Solomon to speak on this topic and its roots as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series Wednesday.
In addition to publishing several successful novels, such as National Book Award winner “The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression,” Solomon is a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University Medical Center and president of the Poets, Essayists and Novelists American Center. He is also an LGBT rights advocate and mental health activist.
According to UW-Madison professor of psychology Seth Pollak, Solomon’s appearance as a DLS speaker was endorsed by an array of organizations across campus, from the Department of Psychology to the LGBT Campus Center.
Wednesday’s lecture pertained largely to Solomon’s 2012 book, “Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity,” in which Solomon explores the lives and relationships of families with children who are differently abled, including kids who have dwarfism, Down’s Syndrome, severe mental illness, autism and children of the deaf community. He examined how these distinctions play a role in developing an individual’s identity.
“We not only take care of our children because we love them, but love them because we take care of them,” Solomon said regarding the dedication of parents.
Solomon also spoke to the idea of the difference between love and acceptance.
“While love is ideally there from the moment a child is born, acceptance is a process, and it takes time,” Solomon said.
While many people expected his work to deter him from having children, Solomon said it actually propelled him to grow his family. He said rather than focusing on everything that could go wrong, he said he prioritizes “how much joy there can be in the experience even when everything seems to be going wrong.”
