Autism Says 1000 Words

Autism in my life:

My personal journey living with autism spans nearly three years. I remember the pain hearing the diagnosis when my son, Sasha, turned three years old. I remember the anxiety I felt when the doctor told us that the best chance of recovery or improvement would be over the next two years, before he would turn five. The doctor could not guarantee recovery, but he knew that Sasha’s mannerisms and habits could be more easily formed and molded before the fifth year. Our mission began immediately.

We had recovery on our minds. Through our research we came across therapies, supplements, herbs, drugs, special diets, oxygen tanks and all sorts of organizations to reach out to for support. We looked into it all and over two and a half years, we tried about half of them all in the name of recovery. We were obsessed.

In March of 2010, all of the pressure seemed to subside. My wife and I went to hear an expert in the field of autism speak about acceptance. She encouraged us to push Sasha’s strengths and also discussed the beauties of autism and showed a documentary of young adult autistic people and their individual experiences in society. The documentary was inspiring and optimistic and brought up all sorts of positive aspects of autism; in particular, their creative and innovative minds.

Since that day, we have let our guard down. We have loosened the reigns on Sasha and celebrate autism as a gift and not an unfortunate and inconvenient situation.

My quest for recovery has changed to a search for understanding and acceptance in society. As the rate of autism grows by the month (currently 1 out of 110 children nationwide are affected), I feel it is my mission to do my part in the autism awareness department.

I decided to use my livelihood, photography, to send a message. I created modern, vibrant, optimistic colored backgrounds to represent the energy of the kids. I wrote in a subtle graffiti-style, a word that would represent autism in a new light…or at least a more positive take than what most of society would consider autism to be. The reactions and expressions of the autistic subjects were ideal for my project: Without any direction at all, they each had in themselves a world of responses prompted by their own visions of the experience. They were alive, energetic, funny, curious and adorable.

This project opened up my eyes to a new kind of way of photographing children. It has forced me to shoot outside of the box with regards to the lighting and backgrounds and has made me more of an observer than a director behind the camera.

Here is a show of my subjects

Ebert's Kids With Cameras covered by ABC news!

Our studio has close connections with the special needs world and we thought about how cool it would be to see how some special needs kids view the world, or, at least, through the lens of a camera. Furthermore, how perfect it would be for these kids to be able to give back and relieve some of the stigma that comes with societies labels of special needs people and to show their community that they have just as much to offer as anyone else, if not more?
Our Third Annual Ebert's Kids With Cameras will took place Thursday, May 20, 2010 from 4pm until 8pm. It was held at Ebert Studio of Hinsdale, 110 S. Washington St., Hinsdale, IL. This year were very proud to be working with Charlie's Gift, a non profit public charity dedicated to providing a uniquely integrated approach to supporting children and families facing Autism, Sensory Processing, and Related Disorders. Charlie's Gift is in association with The Community House of Hinsdale. A special shout out to The Frame Warehouse of Oak Park for donating frames for the project.
What an awesome evening we had! Ebert's Kids With Cameras was more energetic than ever, plus we had Theresa Gutierrez there to cover the story!! See ABC news story.
The raffle winner of the jewelry donated by Susan Lieber was Eldon, ticket number 460201! Congrats Eldon!
Most of the images that the kids were selling, sold! Between the jewelry raffle, images sold, DVD sales and donations we came in just shy of $ 2500 for Charlie's Gift! I'd say that was a great show! Special thanks to our 19 photographers for making it happen!

If anyone is still interested in purchasing any of the kid's images, feel free to check out the website and email jeff@ebertstudio.com with orders!

The images are sold as 8x10s without mats or frames. They are $15 each plus $5 for shipping. Credit Card by phone and checks payable to Ebert Studio are acceptable forms of payment.

All proceeds go to Charlie's Gift (of course!).