I am writing this posting
after a very busy few weeks introducing then presenting my first set of
resources. This posting is intended as a conclusion to these resources, although it could
equally be read as an introduction. Blogger presents postings in reverse
chronological order – and this could be the first time some readers encounter
what I have been doing.
I have said some of what
follows already – but for anyone new to the blog, or for anyone who has got a
bit lost along this Herculean journey, here is a summary of some of key things
I am seeking to achieve.
Why autism and classical mythology?
In 2008, I
was meeting with a special needs teacher who told me that one thing she and her
colleagues had noticed over the years was that autistic children often respond well,
and sometimes with enthusiasm, to learning about classical mythology. As a classicist interested in classical myth, I was
intrigued to find out why this might be the case. I began to
wonder whether, as classicist specialising in mythology, I might have something
specific to contribute towards using myth with autistic children.
I
started contacting academics in disciplines including Psychology and Education
and also professionals working in various ways with autistic children, and I
kept being encouraged to push forward. For instance, the special needs teachers
and dramatherapists I spoke with consistently said that they were repeatedly
looking for new resources and that stories provide valuable sources for
materials. This led to an unexpected
turn in my career towards becoming interested in autism and disability more
broadly. I
started this blog, in early 2009 to report on my progress. I decided to do this
because I was aware that I had many other projects ongoing – but by blogging as
and when I thought I had something to share, I could at least report
sporadically on my progress.
For
the first few years after 2009 – indeed, until the ERC-funded project began in
2016, I did indeed blog sporadically, often with lengthy gaps between postings.
But what happened too was that several specialists who work with autistic
people made contact with me and, by the time we began on the funding bid to the
ERC, I had made several valuable and valued contacts, and written circa 20,000
words around aspects of autism, myth and disability studies, including on the
possibility of viewing stories associated with Perseus through an autistic lens,
the potential for Aristotle’s theory of catharsis as used in dramatherapy to
“reach” autistic people, and how the
hero/monster metaphor might inform the quest for disruptive pedagogies in
Higher Education.
During
this time, this interest in autism and classical myth led to some unexpected
interfaces between my various roles in my institution. For instance, I became a
Departmental Disability Co-ordinator, and this enabled me to work with the
disability team at my institution. The blog provided a forum for reporting on
this new direction in my practice, including a role in organising training for
colleagues in how to support the needs of autistic students.
Why
Hercules? Autism and challenges
For
around a decade, then, and especially since the launch, in October 2016, of the
European Research Council-funded project Our Mythical Childhood... The Reception of Classical Antiquity in
Children’s and Young Adults’ Culture in Response to Regional and Global
Challenges, I have been exploring the potential for classical
mythology to respond to some of these challenges by exploring new ways to open
up cultural experiences for autistic children.
This includes the
development of a first set of resources, for use by those who work with
autistic children, around the adventures of Herakles – Hercules in Roman
stories and many modern retellings, including the one that has been providing
the focus for the first set of resources I have developed. Hercules – I shall
switch from here on to the Roman spelling – is a mythological figure with
especially rich potential in the autistic “classroom,”[1]
especially his difficult journeys into fantasy lands and his comparably
difficult experiences in the mundane world, where he often remains an outsider.
In
creating these resources, I have been aiming to draw on the potential of
Herculean stories in: stimulating the imagination, extending experience,
developing social and personal skills, giving cultural experience and
aiding interaction with others.
For autistic young people, the
challenges of childhood can be all the more acute as they find ways to make
sense of experiences, develop imaginations, learn to plan for the future, and
try to make sense of where they fit within time and space. I have been
exploring what role is there for myths of Hercules as part of the quest to help
change the experiences of autistic people. This hero keeps resurfacing at key
cultural moments with a presence that Alistair Blanshard articulates as
follows: “Stories about Hercules do far more than just recount amazing
exploits, they take us into the hard of the culture that celebrates them.”[2]
I
shall explore how far the potential of Hercules to express key concerns in a
culture can be extended in relation to work with autistic children. I shall do
this particularly in relation to the Choice of Hercules between two divergent
paths in life. This is a myth with distinguished history of expressing
contemporary concerns about children.
Autistic children
characteristically experience a range of hardships over and above those
experienced by other children. They find it difficult, for example, to know
what to say or do in social situations, or to respond to the subtle cues that
other children learn more easily. It is especially hard for an autistic child
to do the kind of things that are, or come to be, innate for others, for
instance how to initiate or maintain a conversation. Autistic children will
find it harder than their peers to read body language or facial expressions –
or any form of non-verbal conversation. Interpreting things like tone of voice
will likely prove difficult too.
Beyond this, developing any
rapport with others will likely be a challenge. And they will find it hard,
too, to gauge what others are thinking or feeling. These difficulties in communication
will tend to be compounded by difficulties over processing information.
Autistic children will likely find it hard to think beyond the present and they
might well find it hard to understand that the present can turn into the
future. They will often find it difficult to understand the “bigger picture” in
any given scenario, preferring instead to focus on particular details. Autistic
children also find it hard to deal with changes in routine, preferring instead
set and repetitive patterns of behaviour. Added to this, they will
characteristically experience heightened sensory perceptions such an acute
reaction to noise or smell.
Why Hercules? Embodied differences
However,
during the past decade, while I have been developing this blog, understandings
of autism have been developing, including
an increased sense of the challenges that autistic people face and also the how
vital it is not only to seek to “reach” autistic people but also to gain a
deeper understanding of the world of each autistic person. This move, away from autism as something only needing
be something to be pathologised as an impairment is something that I am have
been seeking to explore. Indeed, a key goal is to show how
the activities connected with Hercules might be able to open up new cultural
and intellectual opportunities for autistic children.
Where next?
Hercules, the ancient hero
and the hero that has been co-opted at key moments since antiquity, can offer
Hope for autistic children as they negotiate challenges on their journeys
towards adulthood. This is my conviction. Once I have turned this conviction
into something tangible though completing the first set of resources for use
with autistic children, I shall seek feedback from professionals and rework
them in light of their comments. I shall report on my progress on this blog. More soon.
Here
ends the most intensive (and most visited!) to date month on this blog….
[1] For the debate between whether
there should be a
distinctively autistic classroom in the sense of a space that supports the
learning of those diagnosed as autistic, or whether to support the move towards
an inclusive classroom that supports the learning of all, autistic and
otherwise, see Rita Jordan “Autistic Spectrum Disorders,” in
Ann Lewis and Brahm Norwich eds., Special
Teaching For Special Children? A Pedagogy for Inclusion (Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2005):
110-120.
[2] Alistair Blanshard, Hercules: A Heroic Life (London: Granta,
2005), xviii.
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