AWN Acceptance Event 2016: Spectrum Viewing

On Saturday April 23, Autism Women’s Network and the Ed Wiley Autism Acceptance Lending Library co-sponsored an event that included a screening of the film Spectrum: A Story of the Mind, followed by an online radio interview with the filmmaker and one of the subjects of the documentary. One group gathered in the Stanwood-Camano Community Resource Center in Stanwood, Washington, another group met in the DoSpace tech library in Omaha, Nebraska, and a few more were present online-only in the BlogTalkRadio chat room.

The event centered around Spectrum, a documentary produced by Jill Jones and Brent Yontz, exploring the sensory processing of autistic children and adults. The film features Dr. Temple Grandin, Tito Mukhopadhyay, Judy Endow, and Nick Walker, along with a segment about autistic children, describing their sensory experiences and how those experiences shape their lives as autistic people. The focus of the film, as Jones pointed out in the panel discussion, is to show how “a different sensory perception is like a domino effect impacting every area of life.”

“Each time I look I’ll get a different view.” – @JudyEndow describing sensory overload in @spectrumthefilm #AWNspectrum

— AutismWomen’sNetwork (@Autism_Women) April 23, 2016

Lei Wiley-Mydske, co-founder of the Ed Wiley Lending Library, organized the event at the Stanwood location, where about 20 people were in attendance: “We had a resource table set up with flyers and information about autism, neurodiversity, the library and AWN and other organizations such as ASAN that are by and for Autistic people.” Wiley-Mydske also invited a local organization to speak to the group about a great need in their community for families to adopt disabled children.

In Omaha, the event was co-hosted by Sharon DaVanport, President of AWN, and Erin Human, AWN’s Art Director. A dozen people came to DoSpace, a community technology library where anyone who did not have their own laptop could borrow one for free to participate in the radio show and online chat. The special guest at the Omaha event was Eris Koleszar, a local trans activist, who invited the women present to participate in her #shebelongs bathroom selfie campaign against transphobia.

During the screening of Spectrum, Leah Kelley (@leah_kelley) in Stanwood was live tweeting under the hashtag #spectrumscreening while Erin Human was live tweeting from the AWN handle (@Autism_Women) under the hashtag #AWNspectrum.

“I sometimes taste my words and sometimes feel my thoughts through some movement.” – Tito Mukhopadhyay on senses overlapping #AWNspectrum

— AutismWomen’sNetwork (@Autism_Women) April 23, 2016

“Each time I look I’ll get a different view.” – @JudyEndow describing sensory overload in @spectrumthefilm #AWNspectrum

— AutismWomen’sNetwork (@Autism_Women) April 23, 2016

Eye contact can feel like too much information. sometimes it is painful – sometimes distracting – a bombardment… #SpectrumScreening

— Leah Kelley (@leah_kelley) April 23, 2016

Spectrum: A Story of the Mind opens with an animated sequence narrated by Dr. Temple Grandin, describing experiences of sensory overload from her childhood, moving into a segment about autistic children who use occupational therapy to learn self-regulation and sensory integration techniques. The film then profiles three autistic adults: Judy Endow, painter, book author, and blogger; Tito Mukhopadhyay, a poet who types to communicate; and Nick Walker, Aikido teacher, speaker, and author.

After the film, Sharon DaVanport interviewed producer Jill Jones along with Nick Walker, while taking questions from the live chat room at BlogTalkRadio (the interview can be streamed live or downloaded on the AWN Radio channel). Jones opened by talking about how the inspiration for her film came from observing her autistic cousin Grant, and how it seemed clear to her that his sensory experience of the world was different from hers. She felt that this was an aspect of autism that was not well understood by neurotypical people and so one of the central aims of Spectrum is to convey the sensory experiences of autistic people. While making the film and trying to move the conversation about autism, Jones said that she herself received an education in neurodiversity from the subjects of her documentary, particularly from her lengthy interview with Nick Walker.

“Autistic people are taught from very early that their way of seeing things is wrong.” – @WalkerSensei IN @spectrumthefilm #AWNspectrum

— AutismWomen’sNetwork (@Autism_Women) April 23, 2016

During the radio show, Sharon DaVanport talked with Walker about the ways that his decades of aikido practice have shaped his life and how aikido intertwines with the autistic perception of beauty. In Walker’s view, much of the prejudice against autistic people comes from people’s fears about human diversity itself – which is why there is also so much prejudice and controversy lately around transgender rights and genderqueer people, racial tensions, and so on. Taking a question from the chat room, Nick Walker explained the term “neuroqueer” which was coined by himself along with two other Autonomous Press co-founders, Michael Monje and Ibby Grace. Neuroqueering has two aspects, Walker told the audience: “There’s the idea of treating neurological queerness, neurodivergence, as a form of queerness, in the same way that genderqueerness queers gender. […] The other aspect of neuroqueering is the intersection of queerness on the sexuality and gender spectrum, and neurodivergence, autism and other forms of neurodivergence.”

Finally, AWN’s Sharon DaVanport agreed with guests Jill Jones and Nick Walker that while real systemic transformation happens gradually – perhaps taking a few generations or longer – individuals can change and help push society toward more compassion and acceptance now. Making, viewing, and sharing a film like Spectrum: A Story of the Mind are some ways that people today can help make the world a better place for autistic people.

For more information:

Spectrum: A Story of the Mind can be viewed on Vimeo ($1.99 to rent and stream or $9.99 to purchase and download) or purchased on Amazon ($19.99 for a disc-on-demand DVD) . When viewed on Vimeo, captions are available in English and Porguese. WARNING this film contains some flashing/strobing imagery.

Arrange for a community screening of Spectrum by emailing Jill Jones: [email protected]

Other resources mentioned in the AWN BlogTalkRadio interview:

Autonomous Press

The Real Experts ed. Michelle Sutton – available at Autonomous Press or Amazon

The Spoon Knife Anthology – available at Autonomous Press (Neuroqueer Books imprint) or Amazon

The interview with Jill Jones and Nick Walker can be heard on AWN Radio at BlogTalkRadio

And a transcript of the show is available on the AWN website