Autism and Classical Myth: On reading the review of my 2022 conference at Leicester by Emma Astra AKA The Disabled PhD Student

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.

Thursday, 23 November 2023

On reading the review of my 2022 conference at Leicester by Emma Astra AKA The Disabled PhD Student

A colleague got in touch recently to ask whether I knew about an article written about a visit I made to the University of Leicester last year to talk about where autism, neurodiversity, disability and classics cross and connect.

I didn't know about it. But when I clicked the link, what I found there floored me, in a wonderful way.

The article is here.

It's by Emma Astra AKA The Disabled PhD Student. Emma sets out what it was like for her attending the different phases of the day, starting with an informal drop-in, continuing with lunch at a cafe on campus, then having tea and cakes in the foyer of one of the university buildings and finally attending a more formal presentation from myself, though where participants had the option of a colouring in activity.

Space to connect at Leicester University's Percy Gee Building.
Photo Ashley Drake. Sourced from Wikimedia Commons

The article beings with the header: 'How and why I changed my perspective of Greek Tragedy because of Professor Susan Deacy'.

I'm not going to summarise what Emma says because I can't do justice to it. Here, though, are a few points I want to get down - including so that they can serve as actions points for myself:

Informal drop-in sessions: these should become a thing!
The 'crossroads' image is worth keeping pursuing
Opportunities for conversations in non-formal settings like such are worth having. As Emma writes, it's here that 'the most connecting and experience arises'
Colouring in is 'therapeutic'. There need to be more colouring in opportunities
Hercules can resonate in unexpected ways
Emma's medium site and PhD blog are wonderful places
So too is the work of Andrew Hugill, author of the Autistic Professor blog
'Hybrid events are important' for disabled people just as Emma says.

University Road Sign designed by Freepik.
Attribution here

As I mentioned in my previous posting, I am off to Leicester again next week both to look back over the Hercules phase of my practice and to look ahead to what I'm planning concerning Medusa. The crossroads image will be all the more important for me to think through in like of Emma's insights.