Autism and Classical Myth: Announcement: What would Hercules do IS OUT!

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, 15 January 2024

Announcement: What would Hercules do IS OUT!

One thing I love about blogging is the opportunity it gives to disseminate research while it is in progress. And for years now I have been sharing my progress with a series of lessons for autistic young people based on the mythological experiences of Hercules.

More recently, I have been sharing that this process has gradually been leading towards a moment, a thing, A BOOK...

The book is now out.

I write with the hardcopy version beside me.

My book against my computer screen while I write this blog post

It exists - and it's been beautifully produced by the publisher at Warsaw. As well as being available via the publisher the pdf of the book is available online. Here is the link.

The resources linked with the book will be going live soon, once a few final tweaks have been made. We'll get them out as soon as possible - not least as teachers have been in touch already asking about them!

I'm so excited to be at this stage. It's an endpoint, but also a new beginning, where, for example, I'll be delivering and adapting the lessons myself and creating new ones. But for now, I'll pause and shares screenshots of information about the book and the endorsements that appear there and on the back cover of the book.

I'd love to hear thoughts about the book either via a comment to this blog or via email at susan.deacy@bristol.ac.uk