Day 236

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Tracy Thresher & Larry Bissonnette

Tonight my mom, sister, and I saw the documentary Wretches & Jabberers! This film's about two men with autism who travel to Sri Lanka, Japan, and Finland to meet other people with autism that use keyboards to communicate. In each country Tracy and Larry correct autistic misconceptions by showing the world that people with autism are intelligent and seek the same amount of purpose and interaction as everyone else. Overall this was a great film that everyone should take the time to see.

Day 204

Sunday, April 10, 2011

I recently watched My Classic Life as an Artist: A Portrait of Larry Bissonnette, which is a short documentary about an artist who has overcome communication and societal barriers. Larry, who also stars in Wretches & Jabberers, was institutionalized in Vermont when he was 8 and diagnosed as "mentally retatrded, schizophrenic, clincally insane, and austistic." Larry believes that:

“Fastening labels on people is like leasing cars with destinations determined beforehand. Mostly it’s good practices for educating unconventional people, eccentric on the outside, but normal on the inside, that lops off weak branches of disability and promotes possibilities for new growth.”

I love this explanation and think it accurately describes Larry, who is first an intelligent and talented artist with a witty sense of humor; his diagnoses and form of communication (keyboard) are secondary to his character and accomplishments.

“Knowledge and learning of art have allowed my abilities to sore out on an airfield occupied by people that don’t have disabilities.” -Larry

Larry began painting as a form of communication and outlet for stress.

Day 193

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Today I watched Larry and Tracy from the documentary Wretches & Jabberers on The New York Times' live stream TimesTalks. Here are a couple of their responses:

Larry, what do you express with your art?

"Potentially I might be called an outsider artist giving me cache in the art world, but I really paint from the inside institutions that I feel in my world as an autistic person making art to meet images with feelings."

Tracy, when did you realize that you had communication problems and how did it make you feel?

"That was going back to my earliest memory as a young boy. I knew I was not like other kids. It made me angry and I withdrew. I had tantrums. As a result not being able to show I understood was a jail sentence."

Overall, it was a great lecture. Can't wait to see the film. If you're interested, you can also look at our tweets.

Day 171

I was looking through Lance Mannion’s tweets, a blogger who writes about art, culture, politics, and life and has a son with Asperger’s syndrome, because he attended a screening for the documentary Wretches and Jabberers. This documentary is about two men with autism, Larry and Tracy, who travel the world to promote autism, meet new people, and tell their stories. Larry and Tracy both have verbal skills, but mostly communicate with type. I followed Mannion’s tweets because he made comments and observations about the screening and the Q&A session afterwards.

I found this particular tweet to be interesting because I felt like it related to Kelt’s education. By the end of middle school most self-contained classrooms start to deemphasize academics and begin focusing on life and transition skills. These skills are necessary for every young person, but don’t typically become a priority until a later age. When Kelt was in middle school we started to realize that students with high-functioning autism don’t always fit into the typical special education curriculum. They have the ability to learn, but have a different learning style and require more one-on-one help. They also need more help with communication, sometimes through sign language or an alternative system, which was the case for Tracy. He had the capacity to learn, but simply didn’t have a way to communicate. Luckily the mysteries of autism and communication are being solved and more alternative and augmentative communication devices are being created and used.

http://www.wretchesandjabberers.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eKVUIiQlpg
http://lancemannion.typepad.com/lance_mannion/
http://twitter.com/#!/LanceMannion

Day 150

Polaroid pictures taken by Kelt.

Larry incorporates Polaroids into his paintings.

While I was searching for other artists with autism I came across Larry Bissonnette from Vermont. Along with his art he has also been traveling the world with Tracy Thresher, sharing their stories and correcting misconceptions about autism. Wretches and Jabberers, a documentary about their journey, will be released in April. To view the trailer, go to: http://www.wretchesandjabberers.org/index.php