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Families & Allies Working Together Newsletter
10-27-2004
Leaving Them Wanting -- Communicating with People with Autism
Starting with this issue of the newsletter, we are adding a feature we think our readers will find interesting and useful, namely a substantive article on issues related to the disabilities field. The following article contains excerpts from an interview with Donna Williams by Douglas Biklen, entitled “Experiencing Autism: An Interview with Donna Williams.” We acknowledge with great appreciation the permission granted to us by the editor of TASH Connections to use this article from their June 2002 issue.
Donna Williams, a person with autism, has become internationally recognized. Born and now living in Australia, she is a painter, sculptor, musician and song writer, as well as the author of several books on autism. She lectures frequently on her work and on her experiences growing up. In this article, Ms. Williams describes, in interesting and colorful detail, some of her experiences and observations about communication. Her description shows, we think, tremendous personal grace, courage, and insight. You can visit her amazing website at www.donnawilliams.net
“When I was eleven, I…could not answer on a personal level when someone else initiated the dialogue. This meant I was very communicatively stuck. My solution was to chatter to my feet, but I was unable to turn up the volume for the purpose of the listener, unable to disclose who the intended listener was, unable to define who I was speaking about nor be specific in disclosing the topic itself. To have done any of those things would have triggered involuntary self-protection mechanisms which would have severed the line of communication entirely, leaving me nowhere.
“….A teacher who tried to get me to communicate found it only triggered my cut off. He learned instead to get out of my space and into his own. He learned not to ask questions, but to say open-ended statements out loud to himself. He didn’t sit opposite me, but sat alongside me with the distinct feel of being in his own space as he talked to himself. His indirectly confrontational approach used triggering on a preconscious level to free up my dialogue WITH MYSELF before him (emphasis in the original).
“Then there’s the issue of Exposure anxiety causing shutdowns in spite of tremendous learning….But also, there’s the left brain way of learning—which is conscious and verbal and using intellect, and the right brain way—which is preconscious, may connect through typing but not speaking, and relies on mapped sense of pattern, felt theme and the feel of an object, person, situation rather than interpretation based concepts….
“Just because someone doesn’t use their processing in an integrated way doesn’t mean they are not intelligent, but their way of expressing that intelligence may require different techniques, different ‘keys’ of triggering the information, and the language itself may be quite individual in some cases. So,…in sensing-based language, ‘degoitz’ is the word for the pulling back feeling I now call Exposure Anxiety. It evolved into ‘lemons’ and ‘causing me lemons,’ but this was describing the feeling caused by exposure.
“….So I think sometimes the definition of language is also quite narrow and there is an assumption that if it’s not ‘interpretive, left-brain’ language (then) it’s not valid or comprehensible and I think that’s lazy and unimaginative to think that way.
“….That’s because conscious thinking and speaking with awareness doesn’t come naturally to me. I don’t relax with it. It feels ‘plod,’ ‘plod’ a lot of the time (but typing is different). I can do it (like speaking a foreign language), but complex verbal communication feels like lots of rust, like wading through mud. I’m naturally right-brain, so I love to buzz and get into patterns, whether I speak or not. I’m good at being (that way). But most of the world isn’t like that, so to be what comes naturally to me would mean social exclusion from a large part of society.
“….I don’t say leave the person alone, but do get realistic and honest…..Forced inclusion can feel like imprisonment and trigger social claustrophobia. So get real.
“….Keep [the interaction] directed at the object/issue and off the person. Keep it in small doses, leave them wanting. Be self-owning, be there for you, not for them, take the heat off….Cut down the visual busyness of environment, contain displays in clear, boundaried areas. Sort out overwhelming or invasive acoustic experiences so people can relax. Slow your speech, use gestural signing as though to yourself, keep communication visual and concrete through objects if involving contrastive information.”
Experiencing Autism: An Interview with Donna Williams, by Douglas Biklen, TASH Connections, June 2002, Vol. 28, No. 6, pp. 14-21.
Reprinted by permission of TASH. For more information about TASH, visit www.tash.org or call 410-828-8274.
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