Richard Butchins's Blog: Angels stand corrected... - Posts Tagged "autism"
going away is nerve-racking
I have to visit LA, Portland, Chicago, Olympia (lovely place near Seatle) Eugene, Oakland and a place called Timber Oregan (population 131) all in 7 days. Organising this has been stressful.
But it will be worth it as its the start of a poignant and moving project. I will be researching and filming material about a talented but disturbed young woman.
Watch this space.....
But it will be worth it as its the start of a poignant and moving project. I will be researching and filming material about a talented but disturbed young woman.
Watch this space.....
Flying
LAX to Portland – In the airport, a stentorious voice emits from invisible speakers honouring US Military personal for their service it’s all a bit Brave New World meets 1984. There’s WiFi everywhere and nowhere, in the ether, in the somewhere else.
I am travelling around the USA to find out about the life of a woman, a woman who died in strange circumstances last year. She was a gifted singer and musician as well as a fine writer. I decided to create a memorial to her, a piece of art of which she would approve – which will be difficult because as she herself said: “I can’t consider anything finished unless it is perfect and nothing is perfect.” You see the other thing about this woman, that informed everything she was and did, is that she had Aspergers, she was a high functioning autistic woman, a savant if you will, one that had a way with words. She made a list, a list of traits – I suggested she do this, thinking there would be maybe 20 things at most but she came back with 213 things.
Here are some of them:
122. I started keeping a journal as a child in order to remember how terrible it was to be a child.
148. I have taken a vow of silence and was put on voice rest and it was like a dream vacation to not have to speak.
181. People often think that I am rude when I am, in fact, obsessed with being polite and friendly
195. I cannot, under any circumstances, do two things at once.
What surprises and saddens me is that there’s no mention of her “service” over the Public Address system.
I am travelling around the USA to find out about the life of a woman, a woman who died in strange circumstances last year. She was a gifted singer and musician as well as a fine writer. I decided to create a memorial to her, a piece of art of which she would approve – which will be difficult because as she herself said: “I can’t consider anything finished unless it is perfect and nothing is perfect.” You see the other thing about this woman, that informed everything she was and did, is that she had Aspergers, she was a high functioning autistic woman, a savant if you will, one that had a way with words. She made a list, a list of traits – I suggested she do this, thinking there would be maybe 20 things at most but she came back with 213 things.
Here are some of them:
122. I started keeping a journal as a child in order to remember how terrible it was to be a child.
148. I have taken a vow of silence and was put on voice rest and it was like a dream vacation to not have to speak.
181. People often think that I am rude when I am, in fact, obsessed with being polite and friendly
195. I cannot, under any circumstances, do two things at once.
What surprises and saddens me is that there’s no mention of her “service” over the Public Address system.
Japan is confusing
I'm in Osaka in Japan. I'm here on an Arts Council funded project, part of a programme run by Unlimited - it's for disability led arts projects and I'm making a film/video installation.
Japan is a strange mix of the seemingly familiar mixed with the utterly foreign. For someone like me on the ASD spectrum you might expect it to create a higher than normal level of anxiety but it has had the opposite effect. Because I can understand nothing at all the normal pressures of trying to figure out what people mean and social conventions have fallen away, not entirely but enough for me to feel oddly calm and I walk around without knowing what is going on and unable to read all the signs and this is a good thing although it's mitigated by my support worker being here and he can speak and read Japanese - in a way it's given me a better understanding of those further along the spectrum than me. It has also presented me with rather a lot of culinary challenges.
I recommend a visit to Japan for everyone from the west.
Japan is a strange mix of the seemingly familiar mixed with the utterly foreign. For someone like me on the ASD spectrum you might expect it to create a higher than normal level of anxiety but it has had the opposite effect. Because I can understand nothing at all the normal pressures of trying to figure out what people mean and social conventions have fallen away, not entirely but enough for me to feel oddly calm and I walk around without knowing what is going on and unable to read all the signs and this is a good thing although it's mitigated by my support worker being here and he can speak and read Japanese - in a way it's given me a better understanding of those further along the spectrum than me. It has also presented me with rather a lot of culinary challenges.
I recommend a visit to Japan for everyone from the west.
Angels stand corrected...
I have to have a blog...the site told me, my publisher told me, my publicist told me, and even my turkish barber told me, as he was administering the finest of close shaves. So I thought I had better
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