After picking up almost100 'Lighting McQueen Friend Cars' last night my mind has been on this Pixar-Autism link I'm continually learning about. Last spring I posted this on my blog. Now I have around 10-20% of my regular readers from outside the United States and almost every single one of them has been introduced to my little Autistic corner of the Internet world through that post. The week after I posted that little blip of a thought my Dad sent me a casual email telling me that Ed Catmull is President of Disney Animation and Co-Founder of Pixar. He also happens to be a grad of the University of Utah, Eengineering Department. Ha! Small world, I guess. Dad emailed Ed telling him about his special Autistic Grandson. Ed's response was fascinating to me. He said that other Pixar/Microsoft staff had Autistic children and they too had the same reaction to not only Car's but, Toy Story and other Pixar 3D animated films. The animated worlds that Pixar so painstakingly creates to mimic the real world 'just enough' very often becomes the world that Autistic children are using to bridge their inanimate autistic world, with the real world. Just last month there was a story of an Autistic son and his father. They were swept out into shark infested waters for 14 hours. Treading water and quoting Pixar's movie to keep the hope alive. "To Infinity and Beyond". When I get emails from The Philippines, Germany and Brasil on a regular basis of parents that can relate to tripping over perfectly lined up rows of Car's in their living rooms, I realize that these parents have children with Fragile X, Asperger's Autism and other ASD's. They are all in the same boat as I am, even if we are oceans apart. We are all trying to find ways to connect to our children's world, to tread the waters of Autism and we are all excited to have a way to do it. Even if that means we quote these movies on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. I can't wait to see what they come up with next. (Pixar AND our kids!)
Recent Comments