Last week I had the pleasure of viewing the
documentary “Wretches and Jabberers” a
film by Gerardine Wurzburg. Simply put, this was an hour and half of time
well-spent.
Wurzburg's
inspiring documentary chronicles the world travels of two men, Tracy Thresher
and Larry Bissonnette , in their passionate quest to change long-held attitudes
about the intelligence and abilities (or lack thereof) of people with autism. Tracy, Larry and their
support team of assistants, Harvey Lavoy and Pascal Cheng, visit Sri Lanka,
Japan and Finland. During this time, the men give presentations about autism, communication,
and intelligence. They also meet with other adults with autism facing the same
social isolation and barriers.
The film,
a beautiful mix of advocacy, personal triumph over pain, travel adventures, and
humor, takes you for an emotional ride well-worth the cost of any ticket. Both
Tracy and Larry grew up isolated by their autism, unable to communicate with
the world around them. When Tracy was 23 and Larry 34, their
lives changed dramatically when they learned to communicate by typing. Larry
notes, "nothing I did...convinced people I had an inner life until I
started typing."
As an educator with a background in special
education, this film tugged at every inch of my emotional being. Tracy and
Larry give me a front seat to their pain and their triumph. As a viewer, you
jump back and forth from cheering on their cause to dabbing away a tear after
listening to Tracy comment on “autism’s death grip on my actions.”
I would highly recommend “Wretches and Jabberers” to anyone. You do not have to be a special
education teacher, or any teacher for that matter, to benefit from watching this
documentary. In the end, we all want to communicate, to have our voices heard,
even the jabbering.
To learn more about the film, please visit: http://www.wretchesandjabberers.org/synopsis.php
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