Arthur Honeyman

Honeyman was born to Elizabeth and Charles Honeyman, and was raised with three siblings in Sharon, Massachusetts. Because he had cerebral palsy Honeyman was not allowed to attend a public school. His parents kept requesting education for their son, and beginning in 1947 he was provided with a tutor for homeschooling. From 1952 until his high school graduation in 1959, Honeyman attended Massachusetts Hospital School, a school for disabled students.[6]

His mother developed schizophrenia and was committed to a care facility. Honeyman's father moved with his children to Reno, Nevada, and then to Portland, Oregon.[6]

Wheelchair user Honeyman worked in house-to-house selling from age 19 for four years. People behaved rudely, complained, or even called the police.[6]

He had difficulties being accepted by a college as an undergraduate.[3][6]

In the 1960s, Honeyman experienced communal living in an urban commune and as a co-owner of a communal farm in Oregon. He participated in anti-Vietnam War and civil rights activism. He also burned his draft card, and was arrested three times as protester against the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant in Rainier, Oregon. As a protest action against the lack of wheelchair access on busses, he pushed his wheelchair from Portland to Salem.[6][1]

Honeyman achieved a Bachelor of Science degree in History in 1965, and a Master's degree in Literature from Portland State University in 1974.[3][6]

At the university, Honeyman met disability rights advocate Richard Pimentel, who often describes a situation in a pancake house where Honeyman was denied services as a key moment for his own activism.[7] Honeyman's positive attitude inspired Pimentel.[8]

At age 20, Honeyman had begun writing. Beginning in 1974, he published multiple poems and essays. His first book was the children's story Sam and his Cart, published in 1977: Sam drives in a wheelchair-like cart and sells light bulbs from door to door for living. He is confronted with tragic reactions by others.[6]

From 1975 to 1978 Art Honeyman worked as a teaching aide at Adams High School (Portland, Oregon), from 1979 as a research analyst for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, serving on the Commission for the Handicapped board in 1983 and 1984.[6] He became director of Oregon's Handicap Research Project.

Art Honeyman campaigned for a school board seat in Portland, and twice on a "Spastic Power" platform for the Oregon Legislative Assembly.[6]

A variety of publications followed until 2005. Honeyman also wrote manuscripts of his autobiography from about 2005 to 2008. They remain unfinished. He died in December 2008.[6]

The movie Sam and his Cart, based on Honeyman's first book, was published in 1981.[4] The film won an American Film Festival Award.

In 2007, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released the full-length motion picture Music Within of Richard Pimentel's life story including his friendship with Arthur Honeyman, starring Michael Sheen as Art.[3][5][7]

Honeyman died on December 8, 2008 in Seattle, Washington, while visiting friends.[9]

Honeyman published the following:[6][10]

Wheel Press publications (books), 1980-1987

• Sam and His Cart, 1977 - 1985 (3 editions)
• The Claws and the Horns, 1981
• Sam and His Bright Idea: A Christmas Sequel for Young People Everywhere, 1985 (2 editions)
• Epic: poetry, 1982
• Vernal Verse, 1987
• Brownie and His Friend, Sam: Another Dog and Boy Story, 1986
• Journey: essays, 1982
• Mr. Johnson Speaks Out On: The Follies of Sexism in the Civilized World, 1986
• Los manos del poet: poems = the hands of the poet, 1984
• Umbly Yours: random poems & cover design, 1992
• Coffee Me a Cup of Fix: Poems for Your Coffee Table

Writings, 1974-2005

• Poems and essays for a variety of different publications

Autobiography manuscripts, circa 2005-2008

• Art for Arts Sake: An Autobiography of a Spastic.