We’re kicking off the new year with a brand new course. We’re working with ASDES to give their clients a voice in letting employers know what they should be doing to assist those with autism. ASDES help people who identify as autistic through counselling, job coaching, assessing, and training. They also give people the confidence in their ability to apply, gain, and retain employment as well as assisting with work placement and skills based learning.
Over the coming weeks we’ll be collating stories of our participants’ encounters with employers and employment services. Through a series of activities participants will benefit from learning with others about the hurdles they face in life as an individual with a diagnosis of autism. We’ll be guiding our participants to present themselves in a short film which can be then used to educate employers.
Today we have been discussing the strengths and weaknesses we feel we have and how strengths are portrayed in film and on TV. Our group said they feel a strong connection to fictional characters in films and cartoons, and were quite animated about the importance of superheroes and the roles that they have in inspiring us to be more than what we are. This lead to the question “If you were a superhero what strengths and weaknesses would you have?” All superheroes have weaknesses and vulnerabilities as well as the ability to save the world in some way. Some strengths and weaknesses were very personal to the participants involved so we’re not sharing the lists of them here. [I mean, you wouldn’t expect Superman to tell you all about his Kryptonite problems when he’s got so much else going for him.] So here are the photographs and drawings our participants came up with to illustrate their own superhero personae.
All the superhero strengths, weaknesses, and pictures are going to be turned into a ‘Top Trumps’ style playing card for each participant. I’ve included my Top Trumps superhero alter-ego ‘The Hair’ so you can see where we’ve been headed today. We’ll be continuing with our Animated ASDES workshops later this month we’re we’ll be bringing to life the stories and experiences of our ASDES superheroes.
Melanie Honebone 