'Neuro-diverse' group go on a job hunt
Quote:
EMPLOYABLE ME
Series premiere ★★★
Tuesday 8.30pm, ABC
The correct term to describe the nine jobseekers featured in the ABC's three-part documentary, Employable Me, is "neuro-diverse", as director Cian O'Clery is at pains to point out in his exhaustive media kit. Not "suffering" or "coping" or "living" with autism or a "disorder", but "diverse" in terms of perspective and interaction. The word is also an apt descriptor for this group. Outgoing Rohan and Jonathan, both with autism diagnoses, share a methodical determination to find work. Tim, an IT whizz also on the autism spectrum, is introverted. Friendly Marty has Fragile X syndrome. And Kayla has Tourette's syndrome that disappears when she sings.
Seven out of the nine people we filmed are on the autism spectrum, so one of the things we wanted to show was that people with autism aren't all the same," says O'Clery, whose 2016 ABC documentary, Changing Minds: The Inside Story, featured people with mental illness. "As the saying goes, when you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism."
O'Clery is the unseen interviewer in the film. He doesn't shy away from the hard questions, and neither do his subjects. Their eagerness to participate surprised him, especially in Tim's case.
The challenge of filming in this area is to appeal to curiosity about such conditions without exploiting those involved. That Employable Me achieves this is due to O'Clery's sensitive approach (for example, some of the more explicit of Kayla's vocal tics were cut), and also to the premise. Once we meet the jobseekers, we're rooting for them.
"One of the things about an observational documentary like this is being able to develop trust early on. We spent a bit of time with everyone and their families before filming," O'Clery explains. "It was important that everyone was on board. You can't bring cameras into people's houses without them embracing the process. We didn't have any instances where people were cautious or hesitant or questioning of our motivations."
Not surprisingly, all the potential employees in the film are accepting and encouraging of their applicants, including a major bank that the cynical might suspect benefited from the publicity,
"There are people out there who really feel like outsiders," says O'Clery. "They're just wishing that we could understand that a bit more, and that society wasn't so quick to judge."
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
01 Apr 2018, 8:46 am
