2021 | United Kingdom | Animation

Drawing on Autism

  • English English, Portuguese 10 mins
  • Director | Alex Widdowson
  • Writer | Alex Widdowson
  • Producer | Alex Widdowson

STATUS: Released

This film is currently not available.   

‘Drawing on Autism’ is an exploration of the ethics of creating animated documentaries. As a non-autistic filmmaker, when portraying an autistic person, I had to be mindful of problematic and repeated stereotypes about autism. These stereotypes seem to say more about the wants and needs of neurotypical audiences than about autistic people themselves. Furthermore, animation presents a distinct set of ethical dilemmas. Without the mechanical indifference of a camera, the act of observation is replaced by representation, in which the artist is responsible for what the person depicted in the documentary looks like, where they are, and what they do. Through collaborative feedback, I attempt to share these responsibilities with my subject, while using positional and textual reflexivity to prepare the audience to critically analyze my documentary interventions.

Documentary Representation Neurodiversity Collaboration Reflexivity Stereotypes
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