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