The Autistic Stage (PDF)

This is
a book for those who have a stake in and curiosity about the relationship
between autism and the stage. Performance here covers theatre to therapy,
film to biography, art and beyond. If you are a theater or film critic, a
speech or drama therapist, a higher education specialist or special education
instructor, a parent of a child on the autism spectrum or an individual with
ASD interested in theatre, this book may hold unique value for you. This work
is meant to cover a range of issues and reach out to audiences, critics,
professionals and parents who want to know more about performance
representations of autism. One message reverberates throughout the book: each
autistic person illustrates different approaches to and perspectives on life.
We become richer each time we come to understand these new perspectives and
performance powerfully enhances our understanding of them. Autism Spectrum
Disorders include alternative modes of processing information, recording
images, discoursing with others, and interpreting social scenes. In this
conversation, performance can function as an analytical lens, a
representational space, a means of perceptual innovation, and a therapeutic
tool. The definition of autism as a disorder has evolved from its first diagnosis
in the 1940s to our current frame of reference with several key revisions.
These three categories-interaction, communication, and perseveration-underlie
any published study of those on the autism spectrum. What has shifted in
recent years is an approach to disability that positions autism as a social
construction rather than a medical problem.