In my previous posting I mentioned that, on the days
before and after Lisa Maurice and I announced the launch of ACCLAIM – a network
for anyone interested in the potential fit of autism and classical myth – I had
run two workshops linked with the activities that I am currently developing. In
this posting I am going to deal with the first of these, which took place at
Life is Cool, a café in Warsaw, established by the Foundation Ergo Sum in 2016 whose workers are autistic people. What follows here is
based on the notes that I prepared for the session.
For a sample of these notes, see the blue sheet included in the photo at the top of this
A year ago, something
wonderful happened in this very space: I shared my first set of activities for
autistic children based on the Choice of Hercules between two competing paths
in life. I had written them in February 2018, and it was apt that the first
time that there were shared in a workshop was first at gathering for the Our Mythical Childhood project and
secondly here, in an autistic space. The experience of running the workshop
with you all transformed the project and took it in a new direction. Today, I
shall offer a quick report on what has happened since then. Then I shall
outline where I am going next, including in relation to this year’s conference
theme: Our Mythical History (emphasis added).
Last year, I used a very
provisional line drawing of the Choice of Hercules, made crudely on my computer. Now
– people did great things with this including Anna Mik, who is here again today,
and also staff at the café. But, there has been one development – namely the
creation of a high-quality set of drawings by Steve Simons. While I am talking,
please, if you would like, do some colouring – use any colours you would like,
perhaps bright colours for one side of the scene and duller colours for the
others. Tear or cut out any parts of the scene if you would like, and add
captions.
Indeed, I will be taking
Hercules out myself for a next set of activities, where I put Hercules in the
context of sixth-century Athens, a time when this figure was particularly popular.
This will be in part in response to what the children in a pilot study I
conducted a few months ago said – namely, ‘when did Hercules live?’ The answer
is never – but that people thought he had/ presented it that they thought he
had. What’s more, Hercules meant a lot to people at certain times and places.
In brief, to sum up what’s
happened since our gathering last year, over the past year, I have given
several papers and workshops including in Lincoln, Nebraska, at the CAMWS conference last month – where what was especially well received was the multisensory
aspect of the activities, including from a neuroscientist at a US university
who was on the same panel. I have also conducted the pilot study mentioned
above, met with a group of autism specialists – on which, more below – and
engaged in regular blogging to share my progress.
I’ll now rehearse some this
that came out the session with the experts, as this has had a particular impact
on the direction in which the project is going.
Firstly, the session bore
out my conviction that myth can be a
source of interest for autistic children. On the one hand, there is a well-delineated
iconography, bearing out my conviction that myth can be a source of interest
for autistic children. But, on the other hand, there is also a remoteness – the
rules of myth are alien to everyone, and thus there is no disadvantage for autistic
people.
Secondly, the experience
confirmed that Hercules is a viable
topic, with potential appeal for autistic children. For example, he regularly does
something that others cannot, with potential appeal for autistic children, yet he
also experiences what might look like emotional overload and distress or meltdown.
Thirdly, the experience has
led me to narrow the focus on the activities.
It was pointed out that I needed to narrow the scope of the activities, and I
deed I had been seeking to do a range
of things. As I currently envisage them, the activities are seeking to offer an
alternative model for articulating experience and for making sense of the world,
while also addressing some of the sources of distress that autistic children
might encounter. This includes the sense that their actions are beyond their control.
It also includes not liking changes in routine, or new scenarios. It is not
about changing people – that would be like taking away who someone is.
I have reworked the
activities in two main respects, both of which are geared to empowering
autistic children. The two areas are, firstly, understanding emotions and regulating them, and controlling
them and, secondly, making choices.
Today I shall deal with the first of these: emotions.
For an autistic person, any
kind of social interaction can be hard. There is a multi-sensory dimension to
this involving, for instance sight, sound and touch – meaning that emotions can
be hard to regulate. There can also be a different way of processing information.
For instance, it can be hard to show a fresh emotion after a previous one. An
autistic person might not show the ‘appropriate’ emotion, despite what they might
be feeling. Indeed, it could be that they are feeling lots of things, and this
could lead to an intense response, or a lack of a response – a shut down. The
default emotion is often anxiety – and this can mask other emotions, like joy,
or happiness.
With this in mind, I’ll turn
now the specific activities based around the Choice of Hercules image.
Ultimately, there will be four distinct activities, one for a particular
session:
- reaching the strange place;
- dealing with emotions;
- making a choice;
- the results of the choice: how the present turns into the future.
The sessions could be
carried out over four separate weeks, or over four days or even over a single
day at, say, a summer school. Each activity will be divided into three
sections: story, discussion and creative activity. I’ll run though what I’m planning to include in
each of these three activities here – if we had more time, we could try some of
them. Perhaps some other time…
STORY: The
story for the ‘emotions’ activity will follow on from the first, introductory,
session, so for now I’ll elide the two. Hercules has been carrying out a difficult
task, namely wresting a ferocious lion. No one else could do this. He used his
strength and cunning to accomplish the task. He is the best; he wouldn’t give
up. Then he turned the lion’s skin into a garment to protect him. After that, he
goes walking and gets to a strange place which is barren on one side, while the
other side contains abundant food and drink and is full of foliage and flowers.
Two women appear and each tell that he needs to make a decision about his future,
between a life of hardship on the one hand and a life of ease and pleasure on
the other.
DISCUSSION:
This will be something along the lines of: has anything similar ever happened
to you, for example when you got to a strange place, and met strangers there?
This could be a new school for example. What did the experience make you feel
like (e.g. anxious? scared? excited? happy?).
CREATIVE ACTIVITY: On the handout, write down words for what Hercules could be feeling,
or use/draw suitable emojis.
At this point, I drew the session to a close. There
was a really good discussion, the outcome of which – including in light of a
brilliant suggestion from Katarzyna Marciniak – I’ll share in due course. Most
of the participants were those taking part in the Our Mythical History programme of workshops (again see the photo). One of the staff members
from the café also took part. It’s their input that helped shared the direction
of the second of the workshops, the one on Thursday. The next posting to this
blog will detail what happened there. I’ll put it up soon – today is Sunday and
I aim to get it out while I’m still in Warsaw. I leave tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment