Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit

Biklen and Academy Award-winning director explore autism on four continents

Tuesday, November 17, 2009, By Jennifer Russo
Share

On the heels of their Academy Award nominated 2005 documentary “Autism Is A World,” School of Education Dean Douglas Biklen has again teamed up with Academy Award-winning director Gerardine Wurzburg and State of the Art, Inc., to create a documentary film about the experiences of individuals with autism. With support from the Hussman Foundation, Biklen and Wurzburg have traveled to Sri Lanka, Japan and Finland following the film’s subjects, Larry Bissonnette and Tracy Thresher.

The two subjects are men in their 40s from quiet towns in Vermont. They have autism and communicate through typing on a portable computer or device. In their travels, while exploring the sights, sounds and flavors of each destination, Bissonnette and Thresher meet up with younger adults with autism who also communicate by typing. They share stories about independence, the freedom of communication and the experiences of inclusion, exclusion or even seclusion.

In Sri Lanka, the men travel in tuk-tuks, small three-wheeled vehicles that navigate the crowded streets at breakneck speed. They attend a cricket match, swim in the Indian Ocean and tour a Buddhist temple. Bissonnette and Thresher are also reunited with their friend Chammi, a writer and poet. Chammi and his mother, Anoja, lived in Syracuse for a time, where Chammi learned to communicate with facilitated communication—a form of augmentative communication where the individual points and types—before returning to their native Sri Lanka.

The duo’s next destination is Tokyo, where Bissonnette and Thresher are invited to participate in a panel discussion at an international conference on autism at Tokyo University, organized by Maho Suzuki, a doctoral student in special education, and Masahiro Nochi, a Syracuse University alum and faculty member at Tokyo U. Suzuki introduces the American travelers to Naoki, a young man who, like Bissonnette, is a talented artist, and has authored and illustrated many children’s books and volumes of poetry. Because of his label of autism, though, he has not been allowed to attend a regular high school; instead he is pursuing his high school education through an online program.

The travelers are welcomed to Finland by School of Education Alumna Eija Karna-Lin G‘93 of the University of Joensuu. In Finland, Karna-Lin works with Henna, an artist who lives independently in her own home. Antti is a young man working toward an independent lifestyle and also a student of Karna-Lin’s. Bissonnette and Thresher’s visit marks Henna and Antti’s first meeting with other people with autism who type to communicate, and the foursome gain media attention, as Bissonnette and Thresher have at every stop on their world tour.

About 150 hours of film have been recorded and thousands of miles have been traveled, but the journey is far from over. Bissonnette and Thresher will continue to work with Biklen, Wurzburg and the team from State of The Art, Inc., to edit and provide commentary for the film. They will continue to share their stories from the road at national conference presentations, as they did at the Disability Studies in Education Conference in Syracuse in May. The film will be released in the United States  in 2010.

  • Author

Jennifer Russo

  • Recent
  • Men’s Soccer Team Gives Back to Syracuse Community for Season of Support
    Friday, June 2, 2023, By Kathleen Haley
  • June 30 Deadline Set for Fiscal 2023 Year End Business
    Wednesday, May 31, 2023, By News Staff
  • DPS Accepting Sign-Ups for R.A.D. Summer Session
    Wednesday, May 31, 2023, By Alex Haessig
  • Syracuse Stage Adds 2 Musicals to 50th Anniversary Season
    Wednesday, May 31, 2023, By Joanna Penalva
  • Supporting, Advocating for Trans Youth Will Help Them Thrive As Adults
    Friday, May 26, 2023, By Daryl Lovell

More In Uncategorized

Syracuse Views Spring 2023

We want to know how you experience Syracuse University. Take a photo and share it with us. We select photos from a variety of sources. Submit photos of your University experience using #SyracuseU on social media, fill out a submission…

Awards of Excellence Honoree: Maxwell has Been ‘a Guiding Hand’ in Public Service Career

Standing before an audience of fellow Maxwell School alumni gathered in Washington, D.C., for the second annual Maxwell Awards of Excellence, CNN anchor Boris Sanchez ’09 shared the motivation behind his work as a journalist. Sanchez emigrated from Cuba as…

NASA Honoring Those Who Were Aboard Space Shuttle Columbia And Other Late Astronauts

Sean O’Keefe, University Professor in the Maxwell School, was interviewed for the USA Today article “Twenty years later, loss of space shuttle Columbia still teaches us lessons.” The article emphasizes how NASA’s Memorial Grove is used to honor late astronauts,…

NFL, Eagles and Chiefs All Set To Win The Economics Game In Super Bowl LVII

Rodney Paul, director and professor of sport analytics in the Falk School, was quoted in the Washington Examiner story “The economics of the Super Bowl: Hosting, gambling, ads, and more.” The article talks in-depth about all of the economics that…

CEOs Requiring In Person Work Is Hurting Diversity

Arlene Kanter, director of the Disability and Policy Program and professor in the College of Law, was interviewed for the Business Insider article “Some CEOs are pushing workers to return to the office, but it could come with a cost:…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2023 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.