Young, Autistic and Stagestruck

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http://www.channel4.com/programmes/youn ... tagestruck

"This landmark series follows nine autistic youngsters as they attempt to produce their very own stage show, under the guidance of theatre professionals who've never worked with an autistic cast before."

It's a program on on Channel 4, in the UK. I don't really know much about it but you might be interested.

Thanks for that... and as I race out the door, I noticed that "The Autistic Me - One Year On" is on BBC 3.

I have just watched the first episode!

I can emphasize and identify with what the young actors are going through. I hope some of the shy ones, can eventually join in to present a show.

I was much chuffed when the 17 year old boys parents gave him dating tips, on how close he should sit to his girl friend, etc. When I was 17 I had none of that support at that age, in facts my parents had just divorced.

This program was the inspiration to get my head out my hobbies and back to this forum!

I don't know how I feel about this programme, well more the direction of it. It seems like things are only worthwhile if there is a showbiz side to it, the whole x factor, Britain's got talent, dancing on ice malarkey. Not saying it's a bad idea or that it doesn't show another side to people with an ASD, just well I guess I'm a grump...who would not have been comfortable having to do what those kids are having to do...so fair play to them.

I thought it was quite nice, the young people were treated sympathetically and most parts of the spectrum were represented. It'll be interesting to see how they get on.

I was exactly the same as Ben as a child; very intolerant, argumentative and miserable, and my heart went out to him. But it nice to see the two people who didn't want to join in anything - end up talking to each other. That looked like a bit of progress.

I was chuffed to hear the therapist tell the other adults to just let Ben be, when all they wanted to do was force him to change. I wish I had someone like that as a child. I was battling with every adult I met.

Yes, kreb1958, wasn't it lovely to see the parents show their son what would be appropriate behaviour on a date?

I'm recording them all.

If you missed the first one, it's repeated early on 17th, Saturday morning (Friday night) at 4.10am on Channel 4.

It can also be viewed online here.

I honestly think that some of those kids would've great stagehands.

People tend to forget the people working tirelessly doing specialist jobs behind the scenes.
Lighting directors, sound technicians, musicians, prompters, choreographers, scenery design etc.

I think that some of the kids would've got far more out of being mentored on a one to one basis by technical theatre staff, rather than being forced to perform and join in. These could be good training for technical careers.

People tend to forget in these days of X Factor Syndrome that not everyone has to appear on stage or join in in a group to be a star.

I think it's kind of sad that these opportunities of working solo alongside others, rather than be forced to perform in a group are being ignored.

I also found some of the drama activities disturbing, demeaning and underestimating the intelligence of the children. Fortunately, I had a drama teacher who understood that not everyone can or should be on stage 100% of the time. The exercises in breathing, self control and relaxation skills she taught me were useful. She never dumbed anything down.

Just watched it - I think it's really good. I think it's good for educating the public because it's got a gimmick that'll make them watch it (they're putting on a show, directed by people who have never met an autistic person before) and it shows a wide range of abilities. My mum pointed out it also showed how different everyone on the spectrum is - not in terms of ability, in terms of personality.

Like Noncon4mist, I really empathised with Ben and felt sorry for him - I nearly cried watching him! I used to be very miserable, like him, and I used to threaten suicide. I found it interesting that his mum said he's never hurt himself though - I've done a lot of self harming (and still self-harm occassionally). Unless she was using 'hurt' to mean 'kill/attempt to kill' which is something mental health professionals do that I don't understand. Ben's so intelligent and logical which made me smile ("Do you think you're autistic?" "Why would I be here if I wasn't autistic?") It was very cool that he could talk to the upset girl (Mollie? I'm bad with names) to make her feel better.

I thought that Andrew (again not sure of the name) was so sweet! I really liked him. I found it sorta sad actually that his parents told him not to kiss Claire because I thought she liked being kissed; although perhaps this is because my understanding of these things is impaired like his. I was like Andrew when I was younger- I collected the same Thomas the Tank Engine figures and lined them up and kept them in pristine condition, and I hated buying shoes because they all felt so uncomfortable.

Claire reminds me a lot of a (non-autistic) girl I used to know. She looked like Claire and had a similar name, and she also had a beautiful singing voice and loved music

AmberEyes - good point; my drama teacher was the same (although I preferred being on stage). As for the patronising, in drama groups there is a lot of game-playing and being childish and silly, so if you mean that, I don't think they're necessarily being patronising because the kids they're working with are disabled. I like some of the typical drama-group games but I have to be in a very good mood to enjoy making animal noises to learn people's names and stuff like that.

I've just watched some of it on youtube.
Aaw that Ben is a legend

That's a very interesting point. Yes, some would have responded to technical stuff better, and be made to feel important, without being on display. But the makers of the show are going for the ratings, to attract the advertising revenue. It's all about money. When the show's over, no-one will care about these kids.


I was exasperated with Ben's mum. she actually said "You're not supposed to hate your own child, are you?"

And as for playing down his suicidal behaviour, this drives me mad. Anyone who hasn't been through it cannot comment on how serious an affected person is. They assume because if he hasn't tried it, that his suicidal thoughts cannot be real, they're "just for attention".

It's the same logic as the ducking stool for testing witches in the dark ages: If they drown, they're not a witch!

If someone kills themselves, they were suicidal after all - aw poor thing. But if they didn't try it, they couldn't have been. Total ignorance.

And the female stage show producer - please. The therapist who had worked with autistic kids told her not to try and force anyone to do something they don't want to do, so what was she doing the next week? Forcing poor Mollie to join in. She should have given all the others something so brilliant to do, that Mollie would want to join in - purely out of curiosity.

IMHO they should have had Supernanny down there to teach the adults how to deal with them. She's worked with plenty of AS kids.


Yes, me too. I could totally relate to Ben saying animal noises were silly, as I can't deal with trivial stuff most of the time.

She was referring to him crying constantly as a baby when she said that. I didn't get the impression she hates him now. She seemed very nice to him when he got upset and ran off.

People's understanding of suicide needs drastic improvement. It's scary what people think. The other ridiculous thing I've heard many times is 'People who talk about suicide don't kill themselves, people who kill themselves never talked about it'. So may people prove that wrong!

All these programs neglect people's needs for 'good' dramatic TV

I thought they had set it up in that way to show how autistic people react so differently to things than NTs, for example if they had sat the people in a more autistic friendly way such as round a table (insted of in a circle face to face) then people would not have shown up their disability, its only by showing people failing at group work that the NT poulation will believe/see that autistic people have differing needs, cant change and need things done differently.

I was very pleased with the show and I think it will raise lots of awareness of autism, it hopefully will also stop silly statements about autistic people not talking or smiling at people, as everyone on the show could do that.

And all of them seemed to want friends - another stereotype proved wrong! People will (and have) watched it and will gain a lot of understanding and have a lot of stereotypes removed from their heads

From what I remember, all of my Drama lessons at school were based on the themes of War, Murder, Violence, Abuse, Ghosts, Plagues, Mental illness, Politics and Complicated love affairs.

Very macabre.

Also, adult and coming of age issues.
Self image, body image, substance abuse, relationship issues, Bullying, peer pressure...
That was a bit overdone, but somewhat informative.

It was all so horribly serious and not very jolly or uplifting at all. I wish we'd done some comedy.
It all either had to be based on history or based on Shakespeare.
No "disabled" kids were excluded from these things.
No such luck.
We all had act serious and dramatic whether we liked it or not.
And in English, we had to write essays about those dark and sinister storylines.
Usually stories about human frailty and betrayl.
Gosh we had fun .

Some of the serious Shakespeare would probably be "right up Ben's street".

The fourth and final episode is being broadcast tonight (May 10) at 8pm.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/youn ... /episode-4 .