Autism Awareness Month on TV

For your viewing pleasure, I wanted to point out some specials airing in honor of Autism Awareness Month. My personal favorite is Autism: The Musical, which runs on HBO all month, and they are also making it available for online internet viewing for free at selected times. This film really touched me, the children are wonderful and also joyful; they are beautiful and unique. Their autism is central, but also secondary to who they are as individuals. You will fall in love with them all. It is wonderful to see them learning to express themselves and I appreciated the effort to show a broader range of the spectrum. I saw my son in two of the cast members and parts of myself in some of the parents. The parent stories are honest and sometimes sad, yet probably familiar to many of us. But these parents seem a bit better adjusted than those in “Autism Every Day” and really, this film is not about them. It’s about the kids. It is about acceptance and hope. Just look at their gorgeous faces! (GFCF Note: if you have HBO On Demand, there is an “outtakes” special from Autism the Musical where the cast member Henry assists his parents in a GFCF cooking demo. He’s adorable, but not too enthusiastic! The outtake special is worth a look too, but only after you watch the film.)

Tomorrow, April 2, CNN is devoting practically their entire programming schedule to Autism, in honor of World Autism Awareness Day. Two shows looked interesting to me, Anderson Cooper's interview with Amanda Baggs and other adults on the spectrum called, "Finding Amanda" and another show called "We Have Autism."

Other programs in the monthly line-up include several documentaries or independent films which touch on the very controversial topic of “recovery. “ One is Beautiful Son on PBS, which I have not seen yet, though the photography looks incredible. It follows the journey of a boy and his family who live in Hawaii. The other, sure to add more fuel to the fire of the current vaccine controversy is Autism Yesterday produced by Generation Rescue, which I have also not yet seen.

If you know of other shows that might be of interest, please feel free to mention them here.