Why classical myth and autism?

Why classical myth and autism?

The idea for this project started to take shape at a meeting in 2008 with a special needs teacher, who mentioned that, in her experience and those of her colleagues, autistic children often enjoy classical myth. I began to wonder why this might be the case, and whether – as a classicist who researches, and loves, classical myth – there was anything I could contribute. I started this blog to report on my progress which was often sporadic until the launch of the Warsaw-based European Research Council-funded project Our Mythical Childhood (2016-22) to trace the role of classics in children’s culture.

My key contribution to the project is an exploration of classics in autistic children’s culture, above all by producing myth-themed activities for autistic children. This blog shares my progress, often along Herculean paths, including to a book of lessons for autistic children focusing on the Choice of Hercules between two very different paths in life. The image above, illustrating the homepage of this blog, is one of the drawings by Steve K. Simons, the book's illustrator, of a chimneypiece panel in a neoclassical villa at Roehampton in South West London. The lessons centre on this panel.

Friday 5 April 2019

Snowdrops and Curly Hair: learning about autism from autistic people - for World Autism Awareness Week Day 5

Friday: Day 5 already!

There are many non-autistic people who have made a massive different to people’s lives. I mentioned one yesterday: Lino Ventura, who set up the Fondation Perce-Neige in the 1960s. And Ventura’s initiative is one of several examples I’ve discussed in this blog. I’m about to book a place on an event run by an organisation named The Curly Hair Project, whose origins are different. The Project is the initiative of someone autistic. This is Alis Rowe, the author of The Girl with the Curly Hair, a set of 'visual guides' to autism, one of which is illustrated here to the right. She also writes the materials that used in the Project’s sessions. 

One goal of the event I hope to attend is to enable participants – autistic or otherwise – ‘to learn insight and strategies from people who really live with the condition’. It seems a no brainer that autistic people be key to initiatives about autism. And last autumn, when I shared my ‘Choice of Hercules’ activities with a group of autism specialists, at least one was from the Participatory Autism Research Collective (PARC), which promotes the involvement of autistic people in research into autism.

Hercules' "Virtue" - drawn by Steve Simons
A month or so after that, I had a different kind of experience. I'd just been at an event which saw make a difference to the young – primary school aged – children who were taking part. This was an interactive theatre performance where, with a troupe of actors, the children took part in activities inspired by Shakespeare. I’d met the students previously and I was taken aback when I saw how readily and enthusiastically they took part in the various activities – which even including being picked up, and, sometimes, being whirled round and round. One of the children commented afterwards that what they most liked about the event was being able to fly.
The performance with the children was followed by a workshop, for adults, led by the theatre’s director. At one point, the director was asked whether they ever work with autistic actors. They said 'no'. Their view is that one autistic person will only compound the challenges that other autistic people face.
I’ve been bothered by this. I'll aim to articulate this in a future posting. For now, I’m going to make the Curly Hair Project booking...


More tomorrow!


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