Autism and the God Connection

invasion of the Christians?

As a result of all that I was learning, I was also obliged to undergo a spiritual transformation myself. My original, working title for the book was Autism and the Clairvoyant Connection, but I soon realized that it was far more reverential than that; that the loving families I encountered often felt a deeply spiritual or religious sense of responsibility, and I knew there could be no title other than Autism and the God Connection.

Those are the words of William Stillman, the author of  Autism and the God Connection. He is an Aspergian and an autism consultant from Western Pennsylvania. The quote appeared in an interview with  Lisa Jo Rudy at  About.com.  I stumbled across the book when I was trying to find out if people could hear voices that "aren't there" and still be perfectly sane. According to the book, it seems quite possible.

But this doesn't answer the question, can a movie be made that shows extraordinary ability in autistics without making them look like freaks? We are all still recovering from Rain Man, a great movie, but it is a stereotype that seems will last forever.

Stillman's prose in the book is sensitive and revealing. It shows, through anecdotes, the integrity and health of the people he writes about. Setting aside the question of religion, you can see that these autistics deserve our respect and understanding in a world that still has little of both. As someone who has seen many movies completely distort or exploit well-written books, I cringe a little at the prospect of seeing this on the big screen, yet I am interested in the creative possibilities. If Hollywood fictionalized the book's premise it could be a blockbuster. If it could do it without exploiting autistics it could turn into a classic, attention screenwriter Stephen King and director Robert Redford.

The major problem I have with this trailer to what appears to be a quite promising movie is that neurotypicals seeing it may inadvertently put autistics into a box--they are clairvoyant or super-spiritual or something like that. But, to me, you can't pigeon-hole autistics, you can't put them into a neat box because there is great variation from one individual to another. Some autistics are religious, some aren't. Just don't want people to get the wrong idea here.

Autism and the God Connection, a film by Teo Zagar is A Longshot Production, in partnership with The Autism Project. He is a para-educator in the Special Education Department of the Woodstock Union High School in Woodstock, Vermont. As a Hampshire College student he interned with Ken Burns' film company in Walpole, New Hampshire. In 2004 he won an Emmy for regional programming for a documentary on Ohio. He started Longshot Productions in 2004.

Comments

[Moderator]

Let me know what you think.

[Moderator]

What do you think? Will a movie like this help or hinder neurotypicals understanding of autism?