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.

Monday, 29 March 2021

ACCLAIM! What I'm doing during Autism Awareness Week

Autism Awareness Week begins today!

In a previous posting on this blog, I shared the "mythical surprise" which opened the Our Mythical History congress in Warsaw in May 2019. The surprise was the launch of the Network ACCLAIM: Autism Connecting with CLAssically-Inspired Myth. 

Lisa Maurice and I are - this week - taking ACCLAIM to a new level! We will be getting a webpage. We will be announcing some of our activities. We will be sharing information about our Network members to date - and letting people know how to join. We will also be tweeting! From our new account, set up just yesterday! Please visit, follow us, RT etc! @AcclaimNetwork 

ACCLAIM poster - as unveiled in Warsaw


Accounting ACCLAIM: me (left) and Lisa (right)


ACCLAIM is announced

A flavour of what happens when Autism and Myth connect


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